Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong
to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This story
based on the anime, not the manga.

Chapter 1: The Advent of Twilight

Ironically enough, it all began with a delivery of good
news.

Nabiki paused on the threshold between the house and the yard,
waiting for the chance to speak, and in the meantime enjoying the
view. Ranma Saotome — future brother-in-law, continual source
of interesting chaos, and all-around easy mark — was training.
Some sort of speed-building exercise, unless Nabiki missed her guess…
he had set up a reinforced, padded post in the middle of the yard,
and was hitting it with quick, repetitive, low-power kicks.

Even as she watched, Ranma broke the rhythm of the attack, tensing
just for a split second, and then lashing out so quickly his leg
blurred. Nabiki frowned slightly, expecting the target to go flying
and crash through the outer wall. Another unnecessary expense. Didn't
these martial artists EVER think about practical things like that?

Whether Ranma had or hadn't must remain unknown. His flurry of
kicks left the post still in place, if battered and leaning back
at an angle, and himself putting all his weight on his other leg,
gasping and panting for breath. And grinning. He'd only been working
on this idea for a couple of days, and now, all by himself, he'd
managed to achieve Amaguriken speed in something other than a punch.
And in his natural, slower form to boot. 'Sure beats the old
ghoul's training,' he thought smugly.

The sound of clapping hands drew him back to reality. Ranma turned
to find Nabiki walking toward him, applauding and wearing a typical
smirk. "Bravo, Saotome. Always nice to see you take one step
further beyond what mere mortals can do."

"Hey, what can I say? There's a reason they call me the best,"
Ranma replied.

After spending a moment wondering idly who 'they' were, Nabiki
said, "I was going to tell you something, but since you're
in such a good mood, maybe I'd better not."

The sun chose that exact moment to hide behind a cloud, the fading
of the light coinciding nicely with the dimming of Ranma's expression.
He mumbled something along the lines of "shoulda seen it coming,"
then spoke a little louder. "Go on an' tell me, Nabiki. Whatever
it is, I'd rather get it over with. Is Akane cookin' dinner tonight?
Pop have a tussle with animal control again? Or maybe Kuno got another
magic sword?"

"No, no, and no," Nabiki replied. She paused, enjoying
the irony.

To Ranma, the cause of her hesitation seemed only too apparent.
He sighed. "All right. How much?"

"I beg your pardon, Saotome?"

"How much yen you want for whatever bomb you're about to drop
on me?"

Nabiki glanced over at the post that hadn't gone crashing through
any of the Tendo property. "On the house, just this once."

Ranma paled. If Nabiki wasn't even trying to turn a profit on this,
it could only mean… "That bad, huh?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, Ranma, you need to loosen up. You
want to hear my news or not?"

"Yeah, I guess. Shoot."

Deciding to stretch the entertainment just a little more, Nabiki
began creeping toward the point. "Have you noticed anything…
different… these last couple of weeks?"

Nabiki blinked. "Knew I'd been forgetting something."
She held up a marriage license, which Ranma couldn't help but notice
had had his signature and Akane's forged onto it, then struck a
match and reduced it to ashes. "You can pay me for that later.
That's not what I was talking about, anyway."

Ranma closed his eyes and massaged his temples, trying to fight
off a burgeoning headache. "Would it be worth 200 yen for ya
to just tell me outright?"

The middle Tendo nearly burst out laughing. He looked so pathetic.
"Well, as much fun as this is, I do have other things to do
this afternoon. Keep your pocket change, Saotome. It's Miss Kodachi
Kuno, who hasn't been any trouble at all lately. Right?"

"Right," Ranma said warily. "You heard something
about that?"

Nabiki nodded. "Seems her luck finally ran out. Kodachi's
usual antics might not draw much attention here in Nerima, but the
St Hebereke gymnastics team had a competition in greater Tokyo.
Guess she never learned discretion is the better part of valor.
I don't know what happened exactly, but it seems she's been placed
in a mental hospital. So that's one less nutcase out of your hair
and ours."

"B-but… that's… that's GOOD news!" Ranma protested.

"And why exactly are you protesting, Saotome?"

"You made it sound like you had something awful to tell me,
and you didn't want to ruin my good mood!"

"Oh dear, Ranma, is that what you thought? I just meant that
I was going to save the news for some time when you were feeling
down, so that it would cheer you up."

A slow grin broke out on Ranma's face. "Well, heck, Nabiki,
I guess you succeeded then.” He snorted. "Even if you had to
manufacture my bad mood yourself."

"Always happy to be of service," Nabiki returned with
a smirk.

Ranma's good mood lasted the rest of the day, and on into the next.
In fact, he still had a smile on his face as he and Akane walked
home from school the following afternoon.

"You seem happy about something," Akane finally commented.

"Took ya this long to notice? Jeez, you're unobservant."
Before Akane's temper could flare, Ranma winked at her. "Just
kidding. So Nabiki didn't tell you the good news?"

Akane hesitated on the edge of annoyance, but curiosity won out.
"What good news?"

"Kodachi pulled some kinda stunt where she couldn't get away
with it. She's been put in the loony bin. So no more sneak attacks,
no more paralysis powder, no more laughter that'd give little kids
nightmares!" With a satisfied grunt, Ranma leaped into the
air, turning a somersault before landing on the fence. "You
better believe I'm happy about that. Heck, if they manage to cure
her, maybe when she gets out she'll throw her brother and father
in to get fixed up too!"

"R-really?! Kodachi's… really gone?!" Akane said, shocked.
And feeling more than a little off-balance, to have such a big change
come so suddenly out of the blue.

"That's what Nabiki said. Maybe we oughta throw a party to
celebrate or something." Ranma glanced down and behind him.
“How come you're not smiling, Akane?" he asked, conveniently
forgetting that his first reaction had been shock as well.

Akane frowned at him. He made it sound like there was something
wrong with her. "For your information, I don't think it's very
nice to celebrate somebody getting put in a mental hospital!"

"Jeez, that's a pretty stupid thing to say," Ranma replied
with his usual measure of tact. "She needs it. I think
it's a great thing to celebrate, that somebody's getting the help
they need."

His fiancée's face flushed. "Ranma, you're such an insensitive
jerk!"

"That don't change the fact that I'm right, though, now does
it?" Ranma asked reasonably. His answer was a book bag to the
face. He was knocked backward, barely managing to clamp the fence
top between his feet and save himself from a tumble into the canal.
"What was THAT for?!" he yelled once he'd recovered his
balance.

Akane just gave an angry "Humph!", picked up her fallen
book bag, and stalked away. Ranma followed after her at a discreet
distance, rubbing the new bruise on his face and more than a little
irritated, but with the good mood still present underneath it. It
would take a lot more than Akane's usual temper tantrums to knock
him out of that.

As it turned out, 'a lot more' was even that moment disembarking
from a silver limousine outside the Tendo home.

When Akane came into view of the house some ten minutes later,
she stopped and stared at the vehicle, pushing her annoyance at
Ranma to the back of her mind. There were almost never any cars
parked in front of her home. It usually only happened when certain
city council members visited her father. Had she seen this one before?
It looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't be sure. There had
been that period during her middle school years when Tatewaki had
been chauffeured to school in a series of limousines, and Akane
couldn't be certain that wasn't what was causing this sense of familiarity.

"Whose car is that?" Ranma asked, walking up next to
her.

"I don't know. I was thinking it looked familiar. Have you
seen it before?"

Ranma gave the car a long searching glance, before shrugging. "I
dunno."

Akane snorted. "Honestly, why did I even ask? Do you ever
think of anything other than martial arts and food?"

"Hey, that's not…" Ranma's voice trailed off as the
combination of food and martial arts triggered a memory. "Oh,
crap. No, no, no…"He was still muttering "no's"
under his breath as he pushed past Akane and hurried into the house.
She followed, nearly running into him as he suddenly stopped dead
in his tracks.

There were quite a number of people in the living room, including
two figures that hadn't been seen for a long time. One was a short,
portly man with incredibly large ears. He was seated back a little
ways from everyone else, as if he were there more for silent support
than to actually take part. Kasumi was there as well, her ever-cheerful
smile an incongruous note among all the other expressions. Soun
and Genma were also present; Akane's father seemed a little uncomfortable,
but his main response to the visitors looked to be determined opposition.
Genma was in panda form in one corner, playing inconspicuously with
a tire. And the last occupant of the room…

"Hello, Ranma," Kaori Daikoku said calmly. "It's
been a long time."

Only because he had been expecting this did Ranma recognize her.
Her long brown hair, once straight, was now styled into curls. Previously
he had only seen her wear an elaborate wedding kimono and her Martial
Arts Takeout uniform. Here and now, she was dressed like an ordinary
teenage girl, in a pleasant blouse and skirt combination.

Given the vibes Ranma was getting from this situation, she might
as well have sported a set of combat fatigues.

"Kaori." He paused for a moment, as if to gather his
strength, then asked, "Why're you here?"

"Because I made a mistake, a long time ago. I walked away
when I shouldn't have." Kaori took a deep breath, steeling
herself. Even for a determined, take-charge kind of girl like her,
saying something like this so flatly was difficult. And she didn't
suppose it was going to be all that easy for him, either, just having
her reappear out of nowhere and immediately come out with this.
Nevertheless, Kaori had thought long and hard, and had decided this
was probably the best approach to take. Get the initial shock over
with quickly, as when one jumps headlong into cold water. "You
were promised to be my husband. My father and I are here now to
see that promise made good."

Ranma gazed with disgust at the sweating panda in the corner, and
didn't say anything. Akane spoke up. “Excuse me, but you lost
the Martial Arts Takeout Race. You said you'd give up on Ranma if
I beat you!"

Kaori shifted her gaze to Akane, who in spite of herself took a
step backward. She’d never seen such a look of cold disgust and
disdain. "I offered to stand aside because it looked like you
had some feelings for Ranma. I already admitted I made a mistake.
And I'm going to correct it."

"Young lady, the only 'mistake' was the one made by Genma,
when he made that ridiculous agreement with your father! Akane is
Ranma's rightful fiancée," Soun declared, for the third time
since Kaori's arrival at his home. "You can't just walk in
here and demand he leave with you!"

"I'm not demanding anything, Mr. Tendo. I'm offering."

"Offering?" Soun asked, confused. The panda in the corner
pricked up its ears, misunderstanding where Kaori was going with
this.

"Yes. Offering to Ranma an honorable way out of his situation
here," Kaori returned flatly.

"That's ridiculous!" Soun blustered. "You make it
sound as if he isn't happy to be here!"

Kaori shrugged. "Well, I suppose he could be… if he's a
complete masochist." She turned to face her theoretical fiancé.
"May I ask a personal question, Ranma?"

"Can't really stop you, I guess," Ranma grumbled uncharitably.

Kaori didn't seem phased by his attitude. After what she had recently
learned, she had gone into this fully expecting to have her work
cut out for her to earn his trust. "I notice there's a bruise
on your face. Who gave it to you?"

A long moment of silence. Eventually Kaori ended it herself. “Was
it the same person who usually hits you? Who punishes you whenever
you do something she doesn't like?" She snapped her head around
to face Akane again, though still supposedly speaking to Ranma.
"Who once gave you a head injury that left you with amnesia?"

She looked away from the now-seething youngest Tendo, sweeping
her gaze around the room. No one else tried to meet her eyes. "I
guess that's answer enough. We'll be leaving now. Ranma, I'll see
you in class tomorrow."

There was silence between Kaori and her father until they left
the streets of Nerima behind them. At last, Tetsuro sighed and said,
"It looks like you were right."

"Weren't you convinced before now, Father?"

"I had hoped it was mostly exaggeration. Most of what you
heard came second- or thirdhand."

"But there was so much of it. You can't have that much
smoke without some fire," Kaori said. "And the worst of
it was from reliable sources."

"I'm still not too happy about how you broke into those offices
to retrieve Ranma's medical records," her father protested
weakly. Kaori gave him a glare, and he sighed in defeat. “I know,
I know, with something this big the end justifies the means. But
still…"

" 'But still' nothing! Ranma is my fiancé. I gave up
before because I thought I didn't have a chance. You and I BOTH
should have taken more time to check out the situation back then
before we made any agreements. We would have saved ourselves dishonor
and my fiancé a great deal of pain.

"And now that we know how things really are…" Kaori
stared straight ahead, with determination burning in her eyes. "I
won't give up again. And I most definitely will not lose."

The door to Ucchan's swung inward, and a familiar pigtailed figure
trudged through.

It was still early afternoon, but the after-school rush had subsided
by now. Only a handful of customers were present at the moment.
Ranma made his way over and sat down at his usual seat in front
of the grill. "Hey, Ucchan," he groaned.

"Hey yourself," Ukyo returned quietly, her usual welcoming
smile missing as she gave her fiancé a good long look. No
bruises, contusions, or lacerations to be seen (the one he'd received
earlier had faded by now), but his expression and general demeanor
made it clear that he wasn't feeling too happy. "Hard day?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Could I get a coupla house
specials, please?"

"Coming right up." Ukyo turned to the grill and whipped
out the requested okonomiyaki, passing each to Ranma as it was done.

Once he'd finished, Ranma sighed. "Thanks, Ucchan. Man, today
started out so good, and then it went straight in the toilet."

This was hardly a surprise to Ukyo. It wasn't exactly uncommon,
to have him come in here when the usual chaos had him feeling a
bit down. "So what happened?"

Briefly Ranma wondered again whether this was such a good idea,
telling Ukyo himself that another fiancée had appeared. He
came to the same conclusion as before; she was going to find out
anyway tomorrow, if Kaori really was going to be joining their class
at Furinkan. Better he should explain this now, in a way that made
sure Ukyo's anger would be focused on the right person. "Just
another stupid mistake of Pop's."

Ukyo didn't say anything in response to this. After a minute Ranma
resumed speaking. "Y'know, I was about five or six when he
took me away from home for good, Ucchan. You an' I met not long
after that. But before then, he took me on a lot of little trips,
even one when I was still just a baby. And one day…"

He went on to tell the tale of Genma's 'deal' with Tetsuro Daikoku
to marry him to Kaori, and the father-daughter duo's appearance
a few months before Ukyo arrived in Nerima. How he'd used his girl
form to keep Kaori from winning a Martial Arts Takeout race, which
had forced them to leave Nerima again.

"Except now she's back," Ranma said glumly. "Came
by the dojo and said she wasn't gonna give up this time. As if I
needed any more junk like this in my life!"

There was something a little odd about Ukyo's tone, but there was
no way Ranma was going to catch subtle details like that in his
current mood. "Yeah, you said it. Just when I was in a good
mood about Kodachi getting out of the picture, too."

"So what're things like back at the Tendo place, now that
this girl's showed up again?"

Ranma made the face of one who bites into a lemon in the dark,
thinking it to be a tangerine. "Don't ask. Y'know, there's
a reason I'm not there right now."

"You've really had a rough day, haven't you?" Ukyo turned
back to the grill and began cooking another okonomiyaki, a jumbo-sized
one with plenty of extra toppings. "Have another okonomiyaki."

"Thanks, Ucchan. You're the best," Ranma said.

Ukyo watched quietly as he ate. Once he'd finished, she spoke up.
"You know, Ranchan, this Kaori person doesn't have to be a
problem."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean there's a real simple way you could get her to leave
you alone. It wouldn't solve all your problems, but it'd help with
some others too."

A note of wariness entering his voice, Ranma asked, "What's
that?"

Ukyo stared him straight in the eyes. The fact that she hadn't
smiled once during his visit finally registered in some dim corner
of his mind. She took a deep breath, and said, "Choose. All
you have to do is say which fiancée you want to be with. You make
that choice and mean it, and the others will have to give up. Maybe
not right that instant, but you show them you mean it, and they
won't hang on forever."

Ranma massaged his forehead with both hands, politely hiding a
grimace of weariness. "I kinda doubt it'd work out that smoothly,
Ucchan. But guess maybe I should take some time and think about
it." He got up. "Tendo's have probably cooled down enough
for me to head back now. See ya in class tomorrow."

"Sit. Down."

The tone of absolute command had him back on his stool and blinking
in shock. There was a long moment of near-silence, broken only by
the hushed movements of Ukyo's remaining few customers as they slipped
quietly out the door. One considerate regular flipped the sign from
'open' to 'closed' behind him.

"How many times, Ranma?" Ukyo said at last. "How
many times have you come here, scarfed down a free meal while I
listened to your troubles, and then, when you were feeling better,
you headed on back to the Tendo dojo?"

She actually seemed to be waiting for an answer. Eventually Ranma
said, "Wha—"

"Too damn many!" Ukyo interrupted. "Do you think
I like this, Ranchan? You think this is fun for me,
staying here, being there for you when you need me, and when you
don't you go waltzing back to the people who hurt you in the first
place?! The people who use you and dump on you and treat you like
crap?!"

"It ain't like that!" Ranma protested.

"The HELL it's not!! You know what your problem is?! You grew
up with Genma, so you think this junk is no big deal! Well, let
me tell you, Ranma, everybody has their limits. Even you. You keep
putting up with all the garbage in your life, and thinking it's
no problem, you're a tough guy, a man among men, you can handle
it. But sooner or later everything's going to blow up in your face.
Nobody can keep going forever without getting support from other
people!"

"I'm telling you it ain't like that!"

Ranma's outburst heralded another uncomfortable moment of silence,
as Ukyo seemed to struggle with herself, trying to decide whether
to say something or hold it back. The battle was short-lived.

"No, it really isn't, is it, Ranma? You do have some
people who prop you up, tell you it's okay, that they care about
you." Ukyo's words came quickly now, and harshly. "You
come by and I do everything I can to make you feel better, hell,
feel loved, and when you do, when you've dumped all your
troubles on me, you go right back to that DAMN BITCH AKANE
TENDO!!"

"That's ENOUGH, Ukyo!" Ranma yelled, but his outrage
faltered and died in the face of Ukyo's fury.

"It is NOT enough! Do you know how tired I am of getting pushed
into the background? Of giving and giving for you, while she takes
and takes and TAKES?! Of watching, while you fight for her and she
calls you a pervert, while you and EVERYBODY treat her like a precious
little princess that can't ever be disappointed or not get her way?
Do you know how much this hurts, Ranma?!

"You remember that swim meet last year? I'm a great swimmer.
I wanted to represent our class. But then Akane, who CAN'T EVEN
FLOAT, butts in, and I'm pushed completely out of the picture. You
jump in and try to teach Her Majesty how to swim, and when she fails,
you figure out a way for her to cheat her way to victory! And I
just had to put on my cute face and pretend like it didn't matter.

"Well, it mattered, Ranma. It mattered a LOT!!"

Ukyo's anger ran out then, leaving her trembling and drawing ragged
breaths." 'No man is an island.' I remember that from some
English class. You've got people supporting you, but you almost
never give back. There’s nobody there for me when I need someone.
And I… I can't take it anymore."

She gulped. "Ranma… I… I l-love you." Even now, it
was hard to say. "But I'm not going to throw my life away for
nothing. I'm not going to keep being a free ear and a free meal
to you unless we're on the same page. I want you to go now. And
don't come back unti—" She stopped herself, then deliberately
said, "unless you're ready to say our engagement is
for real."

Ranma opened his mouth to protest, though he had no clue what he
was going to say. "GO!" Ukyo cried, losing most of what
remained of her composure. It was clear that the storm of tears
was not far off.

He took the action that came naturally to a Saotome male, and fled.

The afternoon sun had nearly sunk below the horizon. What light
remained was blood-red, and woven through with long shadows. The
streets weren't far from empty; what few pedestrians were there,
were mostly hurrying back to their houses and apartments, perhaps
for a home-cooked meal and the comforts of light, warmth, and company,
perhaps to shower and change clothes before leaving again for a
dinner date.

This hour marked a short interval of peace for many places in Nerima.
Take, for example, the various parks. In daylight there would be
plenty of visitors to enjoy these oases of green in the middle of
the concrete sprawl. During the later evening hours, numerous couples
would come in search of different commodities, such as privacy and
seclusion. But for now, the grounds were silent, except for the
sound of the wind through leaves.

In all but one park, anyway.

In the fading light, a casual observer would have blinked hard
and rubbed his eyes, unsure of how many people he was actually watching.
In point of fact there was only one to be seen, a young man in black
pants and a Chinese shirt the color of the sunset, with dark hair
bound into a pigtail that was all but invisible in the gloom. The
young man in question was dancing through the shadows, warding off
blows and returning his own to opponents that existed only in his
mind's eye. But so convincing were his motions that the hypothetical
observer might almost have imagined he or she did see a procession
of faceless figures dancing with the one artist of flesh and bone,
now striking, now defending, but never with quite enough grace to
match his.

Though he moved with such control and fluidity, one glance at Ranma's
face would be enough to dispel any illusion of tranquility or joy.
There was an unusually hard cast to his features; his mouth was
set in a bitter grimace, and his eyes were suspiciously bright in
the dimness. He'd been training for quite a long time. It had been
enough to keep the thoughts at bay, at first, but they were sneaking
back now to the front of his awareness.

'Guess I always knew this was comin' some day.' A spin kick
deflected the blade of an opponent's bokken, and the follow-up punch
struck the target squarely in its face. 'Same thing I've seen over and over.' Bending like a reed in the wind
allowed a blow from a sai to pass harmlessly by him. 'I'm Ranma
Saotome, after all.' An elbow struck the solar plexus of the
foe behind him, who was off-balance from the failed sai-strike.
'I can get all the fiancées I want.' He launched into a fierce
whirl of Amaguriken-speed kicks, demolishing the remaining attackers.
Gasping and panting, Ranma came to a halt near a large tree. He
leaned against it for a moment, then sank slowly down to sit on
the ground with the trunk supporting his back. Finally, in a whisper,
he completed the thought out loud: "Just not friends."

He closed his eyes and sat there, as the shades of night lengthened
around him. What he should have said to Ukyo, what he would have
liked to have said, what he never could have thought to say in the
stress of the moment… all these things danced through his mind.

"You aren't bein' fair, Ucchan," he muttered to the wind.
"Did you ever ask me what I wanted? Ever stop and think I may
not want a fiancée
just yet? Ever wonder if I might not be ready for that kinda stuff?
Growin' up on the road, with just Pop for company… how come none
of ya ever think about what that means? I don't know how to deal
with all this stuff! I just keep going along and hopin' I can find
a way to work it out without hurting anybody."

He gave a shuddering sigh. "All I want right now is some friends.
Is that too much to ask for?" No reply from the twilight. He
answered his own question. "Sure looks like it. All the guys
wanna kick my head in and the girls want to drag me to the altar.

"And you wonder why I'd rather put up with Akane's violence."
Ranma shook his head, more angry than hurt for this moment. "I
don't appreciate that junk you said today, Ucchan. Sure she hits
me and calls me stupid names, and no, I don't like it, but at least
she don't try to control me. Akane's the only one outta the whole
lot of you who isn't trying to force me into something I'm not ready
for."

Ranma fell silent then, brooding. A stray thought did tickle the
corners of his mind… ~does she ask you what you want?~
He pushed it aside as irrelevant. Saying those things out loud had
let out enough of the anger that his deeper feelings of hurt had
taken the foreground again.

He didn't want to… but he remembered. Remembered again the carefree
days he'd had with Ukyo, back when they were six years old and he
didn't have a clue about the gender difference. The memories came
more clearly now than they had in a long time. Rough-and-tumble
games of tag under the bright sunlight. The delicious taste of a
well-made okonomiyaki—some of the best food he could remember eating
during the whole decade-long training trip. The frustration and
triumph of dealing with the Gambling King. That debacle with her
secret sauce… he hurriedly pushed his way past those images.

"That's what I wanted to hold onto, you know," he muttered
bitterly. "I wanted a friend, not another fiancée. Don't
try and make me feel guilty about that. I’m already feeling bad
enough as it is. Didn’t want to lose my buddy Ucchan today, that's
for sure."

He sat quietly for a time. At last, Ranma got up, and began making
his way through the shadow-drenched trees. “Maybe it won't be that
bad," he muttered. "I've never seen her anywhere near
that pushy over the whole engagement thing. Maybe she was just in
a bad mood or something, and hearin' about another fiancée
showing up kinda pushed her over the edge. Maybe if I give her a
little time to cool off, she'll go back to normal. Heck, maybe she'll
even come and apologize to me."

Feeling a little better now, and resolving to let Ukyo make the
next move (surely after she'd had some time to think about it and
start missing him, she'd realize how unfair all those things she'd
said were), he jumped the park fence, landing in the welcome glow
of a streetlight, and began the walk toward the Tendo home.

Considering how little Ranma was looking forward to school the
next day, it might seem surprising that he and Akane arrived there
earlier than usual. However, there are reasons behind even the most
seemingly-improbable of events. In this particular case, Kasumi
had taken a moment to wake Ranma up herself, rather than entrust
the task to Akane. She might prefer to turn an oblivious eye to
the typical chaos in the household, but she wasn't that blind.
Ranma didn't deserve to have to deal with little sister's current
mood first thing in the morning.

And so Ranma had woken up early, earlier than he ever did on days
when he and Genma didn't have morning practice. Breakfast had been
a quick and silent affair. Genma and Soun had spent the evening
drowning their woes over Kaori's return, and Ranma's father was
now too hung-over even to attempt a 'speed training' duel over the
contents of their plates.

The earliness of the start toward Furinkan was then compounded
by the actual walk. Or perhaps the 'stalk' might be a better word.
No words were exchanged between Akane and Ranma… the former hurried
along at a speed that suggested she would rather leave her companion
behind; the latter kept pace easily enough, but maintained a healthy
distance between them. And with no random transformations to slow
Ranma down, the long and short of it was they both arrived at Furinkan
with more time to spare than ever before.

Kaori had still managed to beat them there, however. She was waiting
in front of the main doors.

Ranma glanced upward toward his classroom. Just his luck that none
of the windows were open yet. Akane had stopped on seeing the other
girl, and was now standing still and glowering at her. Ranma slipped
past the youngest Tendo, and focused his eyes straight on the door.
Maybe if he didn't make eye contact now, Kaori might let it go for
the moment.

"Good morning, Ranma," Kaori said, giving him a smile.
Not a sultry look, not a devious smirk, not a challenging grin…
just a friendly, welcoming, maybe even understated smile.

"Kaori," he sighed. "So you meant it about transferring
to Furinkan."

She inclined her head. "Of course I did."

"Excuse me," Akane said acidly, walking forward
again, pushing past Ranma and heading toward the school. "Some
of us might not want to be late to class. Why don't I just leave
you two alone."

"Wait, Ranma. Please? This won't take long," Kaori said
before he could take more than a couple of steps. “The first bell
hasn't even rung yet. You won't be late."

"What is it?" he asked resignedly.

Kaori sent a cool gaze flickering toward Akane, who had stopped
as well and was watching the exchange. Then she returned her attention
to Ranma. "I just wanted to say, I know you have to deal with
a lot of stress here." The nurse's records she'd 'retrieved'
from the Furinkan office had made that fairly clear. "I don't
know what kind of strange place this is." The Hawaiian setup,
complete with trained guard crabs and booby-trapped coconuts, had
been an unwelcome shock during her nocturnal raid on the school.
"But I'll try not to cause any trouble for you."

She was still far from happy, but the edge of Akane's anger had
been blunted. She and Ranma were now walking homeward from a day
that hadn't been nearly as bad as Akane had expected. True, Kaori
did manage to worm her way into class with Ranma, but the Martial
Arts Takeout girl had been assigned an empty seat clear on the other
side of the classroom. Akane smiled thinly. Right next to a couple
of incorrigible chatterbox girls, in fact. Watching Miss Hinako
get fed up and drain them, incidentally catching Kaori in the wake
of her technique, had given Akane quite a bit of guilty satisfaction.
She'd never expected to be GLAD the principal had moved Miss Hinako
up to keep pace with Ranma when he and Akane had entered their second
year.

There had been one other pleasant surprise as well. Akane knew
Ranma had gone to Ukyo the prior day, and told her about Kaori.
She had expected that today the chef would be all over her fiancé,
clinging to him and plying him with her stupid oh-so-delicious okonomiyaki.
She'd been looking for a few cutting remarks to be tossed her way
as well, about how much better off Ranma honey would be away from
the Tendo dojo.

None of that had happened, though. Ukyo had stayed well away, not
even making eye contact with Ranma as far as Akane had noticed.
One less thing to stress her out. Add that to the fact that Ranma
hadn't tried to flirt with Kaori at all so far, and her temper was
actually getting pretty close to cooling down completely.

She risked a glance toward Ranma. He was looking down at the pavement,
rather sullenly too, she thought. It didn't look like he was feeling
all that great himself. After hesitating for a moment, Akane said,
"R-Ranma." She heard the catch in her voice and mentally
winced. 'Honestly! Like I've got any reason to be nervous!'
However, Ranma didn't seem to have noticed. Feeling thankful, Akane
swallowed, then spoke again, louder and more steadily. "Ranma."

The youngest Tendo frowned as her fiancé just continued to trudge
along. That he hadn't noticed the first time was grounds for relief.
Ignoring her this time was not. "Hey, dummy!" she said,
her voice rising to just below a shout.

"Well, EXCUSE ME!" Akane returned as the wind breathed
new life into the embers of her recent anger. "Just because
you're in a bad mood, don't take it out on me!"

"Jeez, if that ain't a case of the pot calling the
kettle black, I don't know what is," Ranma grumbled. "You'd
be in a bad mood too if your oldest friend ditched you yesterday
and ignored you all day at school today!"

"You jerk! I can't believe this! You're down in the dumps
because your cute fiancée wasn't all over you today?!"

"Look, I never asked for this!" Ranma yelled back at
her. "You wanna know what happened at Ucchan's yesterday, Akane?
Huh?! I told her about Kaori, and the next thing you know she's
tellin' me she's sick an' tired of waitin' around, and not to come
back there until I'm ready to 'take the engagement seriously'!"

"Oh, and I'm sure that was just terrible news… Oh,
wait, that would mean you'd have to quit freeloading off us, and
give up on Shampoo, and Kodachi, and Kaori too! Oh Ranma, you really
did have a bad day!"

"DAMMIT!" Ranma roared. "She's my FRIEND, Akane!
I ain't got too many of those, in case you hadn't noticed! Am I
not supposed to have any others than you?! Huh?! Is that it?!"

"RANMA, YOU—What did you just say?!" Akane asked, her
eyes bugging out comically.

"What, are you deaf too? I asked if you think I'm not allowed
ta have any other friends than you!"

"But… I… you… that is… really… you…" The
fact that she was babbling inanely registered. Akane clamped her
mouth shut and just stared at Ranma, who for his part was beginning
to feel anxiety dilute his unhappiness. What was the big deal with
Akane now?

Did he mean that? The thought whirled dizzyingly through Akane's
mind. 'He… he said it so plainly… like it wasn't any big
deal at all. Doesn't he know… how much time I spend wondering
if he even cares…'At that point her self-deception filters
kicked in, forcibly shunting her train of thought onto a slightly
different track. 'He really does think of Ukyo like a friend.
And she wouldn't be that for him…'

Akane gulped. "Ranma… I'm sorry."

He blinked, and then blinked again. "What'd you say?"

"I said I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had a bad day. I'm sorry
I was yelling at you. I'm sorry Ukyo hurt your feelings." That
last statement was true, even if part of Akane was also smiling
broadly over just what the chef had done, and what Ranma hadn't.

"Go on," Ranma prompted her as she fell silent.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane gave him a hurt
look. Here she was trying to apologize and everything!

"You left something out. Ain'tcha also sorry about Kaori showing
up to cause me more trouble?"

She actually giggled. "That too. But I didn't want to list
all the fiancées. I mean, we'd be here all day!"

Ranma sighed at the reminder. "Y'know, I really wish you weren't
right."

Only sympathy was in Akane's eyes now as she looked at Ranma. He
really was feeling down about all this stuff. 'Well, I'll do
something about that. What are friends for?' And if there was
a false note in that last clause of thought, Akane's self-deception
filters strained it out before it reached her conscious mind. "Cheer
up, Ranma." For a moment she hesitated, wondering whether she
should say the next part now, or leave it as a surprise. Then she
realized… she wanted to make him feel better right away. "I'll
cook something really good for you tonight. What would you like
me to make?"

That's the trouble with self-deception filters. In the long run,
they do more harm than good.

Ranma paled, twitched, and searched desperately for an excuse.
"Ah… ah… no, Akane, don't waste your time like that! I'm
not gonna have any appetite tonight. So you shouldn't cook. I mean,
you REALLY shouldn't cook."

Some things no amount of self-deception can block. Akane's face
flushed, and her hands clenched into fists… and then she deflated.
'He may be a jerk, but he's a jerk who's in a bad mood. And…
he's my friend…' With a significantly greater measure of wisdom
than she usually managed, Akane realized, 'I need to do what
he would want, if I want him to feel better.' The wisdom
blew a fuse. 'I'm sure I could cook him a great meal,' the
fuse was replaced, 'but he'll feel better now if Kasumi's
going to be the one doing it.'

Akane had to admit, she was surprised that Kaori kept her word.
The Martial Arts Takeout girl didn't cause any trouble for Ranma
at school, and that was the only time they saw her. More often than
not, she would find some excuse during the day to talk to him for
a few minutes, and that was aggravating, and one day she
offered to share her lunch, but she didn't act like it was a big
deal when Ranma wormed his way out of it. Still, Akane couldn't
shake the feeling that the other girl was just biding her time.

"Hello, Kasumi." Akane glanced around the kitchen. "Um,
you haven't started dinner yet, have you? Is it too late to ask
you to make something in particular tonight?"

The oldest Tendo daughter's smile widened. There had been several
days last week when Akane had asked for Kasumi to fix some food
Ranma particularly liked for dinner. It was so nice, seeing her
little sister do something so kind and thoughtful for her fiancé,
instead of giving him food poisoning and reducing Kasumi's kitchen
to a war zone!

This was the first time this week that Akane had made one of these
requests, though. Kasumi supposed that whatever had put the slight
grimace of unhappiness on her sister's face must also have made
for a hard day for Ranma. Well, she would be happy to cook a dinner
that would cheer both of them up. "Of course not, Akane. What
would you like me to prepare?"

"I kn— I mean, oh, really?" Akane covered her initial
reaction with a ruse that wouldn't fool a two-year-old. "Well…
I'm really in the mood for Italian food tonight, Kasumi. Could you
fix it anyway? I'm sure Ranma won't mind." She didn't want
to yell at him, and she wasn't going to hit him. Having something
he didn't like for dinner was the least he deserved, as far
as Akane was concerned.

"All right. Seven-herb lasagna it is, then." Kasumi walked
over to a counter, retrieving a pencil and a pad of paper. She tore
a sheet from the latter and began to write. "Where is Ranma,
anyway?" she wondered absently.

Akane flushed, glad her sister wasn't looking her way. "He
had some studying to do," she grumbled. 'Honestly, I can't
believe him! How could he buy into that lame excuse Kaori gave him?!
'Oh, Ranma, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here at Furinkan
in the first place! You have to help me get caught up in
class! 'Humph. Serves her right if Ranma's 'help' earns her an 'F'
anyway,' Akane thought grumpily.

"Oh. I thought he might have gone by Ukyo's after school,"
Kasumi said.

Akane wondered for a moment whether her sister had upped her dosage
of happy pills or something. "Um, no, Kasumi, remember I told
you that Ukyo dumped him?"

"I remember," Kasumi said, somehow managing to sound
both sweet and grave at the same time. "I just thought Ranma
might have tried to make it up to her, at least as a friend. I’m
sure he wasn't happy to have her walk right out of his life like
that. Even if they did want two different things."

Akane shrugged. "He's getting over it." Ranma still seemed
pained at the way Ukyo continued to ignore him, but unlike that
business with Shampoo and the Reversal Jewel, he hadn't done anything
stupid to try to win her back. A BIG plus in Akane's book. "Besides,
it's not like he's really missing anything. One fiancée finally
gives up, big deal. Another showed up even before it could happen."

"I see." Kasumi filled her current sheet of paper and
moved onto the next. "Poor Ranma."

"Oh, like he doesn't get a kick out of embarrassing me anyway,"
Akane muttered under her breath. She glowered in silence for another
minute or so, then said louder, "Thanks for making that tonight,
Kasumi. I'll see you later—I'm going over to Sayuri's house for
the afternoon."

"Oh, wait, Akane. I need you to go to the market and pick
up some things for dinner."

Akane turned back around and walked over. "Oh. Okay, big sister.
What things?"

Kasumi handed her several sheets of paper covered with her neat,
meticulous handwriting. "Here. You might have some trouble
finding some of these ingredients, so I've listed directions to
various stalls that should have them. The vendors know me by name,
so if you tell them you're my sister you should be able to haggle
your way to a good price.

"Mrs. Hanabi keeps the best general selection for many of
the herbs, but don't try to bargain with her until after you've
listened to her talk about her grandchildren for a few minutes.
Mr. Fujiwara has the best mushrooms you can find in our market,
but if you let him he'll spend an hour trying to convince you to
use shiitake instead of portobellos. The best way to handle him
is to say you'd really like to try the recipe both ways, to see
for yourself, but you can't afford it. He'll give you the shiitake
mushrooms for free, and you can trade them at your next stop to
Mrs. Onamura for the ricotta…"

Akane listened dazedly, fighting a feeling of dizziness, and wondered
whether it was too late to forget about this and just let Ranma's
irritating behavior slide.

Shinji leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and tried to let
the smooth motion of the bullet train relax him. It would be a long
time before the train arrived at his station… better to pass that
interval in a nap, if he could. However, he was only able to hold
out for a minute before one eyelid lifted, just enough to
permit vision, and his rogue eyeball shifted, just enough
to catch sight of a certain reflection in the window beside him.

A girl was seated not too far away, a couple of rows behind Shinji
and on the opposite side of the train car. It seemed a little odd
to him that she would have taken the aisle seat and left the one
next to the window vacant, but since her position made it possible
to study her reflection, he wasn't complaining at all. The train
was currently passing through the darkness of a tunnel, and so the
window served to reflect a clear image of her face. She had the
look of a proud beauty, with striking features that made Shinji
think of a warrior-princess he'd seen in an anime not too long ago.
From his current vantage point, he could see only the smallest portion
of her hair, but from the earlier episode when she'd left her seat
and walked to another car of the train, Shinji knew it trailed all
the way down her back in a glorious mane of purple. And when she'd
returned to her seat, carrying a steaming cup of tea, he'd gotten
quite a nice look at some very appealing curves.

She was clearly a gaijin, Chinese specifically unless he missed
his guess, but Shinji didn't come from a particularly traditional
family. He would be quite content to while away the time chatting
with a pretty girl of any nationality. The only reason he hesitated
now was a certain wariness, a sense that this girl might
be a little bit more than he was capable of handling.

Abandoning any pretense of disinterest, he studied the reflection
more closely. On further scrutiny, it seemed as if there was a hint
of a smile on the girl's lips, a softness to the gleam in her eyes
that he hadn't noticed before. Still a proud beauty, no question
about that, but perhaps not so unapproachable as he had first thought.

As is often the case with teenage boys, it was his hormones that
ultimately made the decision.

Shinji got to his feet, and crossed the distance between himself
and the girl. As he arrived next to her, he noticed that she had
apparently put some sort of vaguely horrible-looking mannequin in
the seat next to her. Perhaps it was something conceived along the
lines of a Western scarecrow, he mused, except designed to frighten
away demons and evil spirits. Certainly it looked grim enough for
that. Turning his eyes back to more appealing sights, Shinji cleared
his throat, hoping to start a pleasant conversation with the finest
babe he'd seen in a month.

It's generally not a good idea to interrupt Cologne when she is
meditating. The Matriarch's eyes snapped open, and she turned to
face the interloper with a scowl. "Did you want something,
sonny boy?" she asked in an ominous tone.

Shinji turned and fled. But at least he didn't run screaming.

"Same as all the rest of perverted Japanese boys," Shampoo
muttered. "Shampoo think Airen is only real man in whole country."
The hints of softness that had so erroneously encouraged Shinji
became more pronounced. "Wonder how much he miss Shampoo while
we gone these weeks?"

Her great-grandmother didn't reply, having already closed her eyes
once more. Shampoo answered the question in the privacy of her own
mind. 'If he have to eat violent pervert girl's cooking much
while Shampoo not around to save him, Airen probably be very
glad to see me come back.' She smiled, a grin that tried to
be secretive, yet had pride leaking out around the edges. 'Wonder
what he think of surprise Shampoo have for him.'

She looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. They had always
been the hands of a warrior, slim and feminine to be sure, but strong
and capable, with the calluses that were an inevitable result of
a lifetime of dedicated training. Only Shampoo herself could make
out the difference now—a few extra scars, tiny ones here and there,
nothing noticeable. Certainly nothing disfiguring.

Nothing at all to indicate to a casual observer that she'd spent
two weeks thrusting her hands into an open fire, trying desperately
to grab roasting chestnuts before she herself was cooked.

'Hope you be proud, Airen. One thing for sure… you know who
is real warrior, out of girls after you heart. Is not spatula girl.
Is for sure not violent pervert what think best way to win is cheat
with super-strength noodle. Is Amazon who not afraid to shed blood
and sweat and tears, learn new things, keep challenging self as
warrior.'

Shampoo thought back to the training her beloved had undergone
to learn the Chestnut Fist. She smiled again, a gentle, rebuking
look directed to the still-distant object of her affections, as
she remembered the stress poor Ranma had suffered. Admittedly, he
(or was that she?) had learned the move more quickly than Shampoo
had. But as Shampoo thought back to the trials the Matriarch had
inflicted upon Ranma, and compared them to her own recent memories
of her great-grandmother soothing her burns with a special Amazon
medicinal balm, she knew which path to mastery she would
rather take. "One of these days, Airen, you realize just how
much Great-Grandmother already do for you," she whispered.
“Someday you even see how much better would be, to come willing
and with respect. Shampoo hope is soon."

By the time they'd walked three-quarters of the way home from school,
in silence, and without Akane ever looking his way, even Ranma was
able to catch a clue that something might be wrong. 'Why's she
givin' me this silent treatment?' he wondered. 'I haven't
done anything to tick her off, have I?' He thought back over
the day. He was just about certain he hadn't said anything insulting,
and he hadn't fought anyone, not even Kuno, so it wasn't like she
could be mad at him for 'bullying the weak'. 'Maybe she ain't
mad at me, though. Maybe she's just worried about something.'

Rather than ponder it any longer, Ranma took his usual direct approach
to a problem. He'd been walking a few paces to one side and a little
behind Akane. Ranma picked up his pace, moving in front, turned
to face her, and stopped, studying her expression. Not very conclusive,
he decided—she didn't look like she was happy, but it wasn't the
angry face he'd seen so many times either. "Yo, Akane, what's
wrong?"

" 'What's wrong?' Why should anything be wrong?" Akane
asked, in a tone that even Ranma recognized as sarcastic.

"Well, you haven't said a word to me or even looked my way
this whole time. It’s almost like you're mad at me or something.
Which wouldn't be all that unusual except for the fact that I ain't
done anything lately."

"Oh, no, of course you haven't done anything, nothing at ALL
to hurt my feelings, right Ranma? Why would it bother me how you're
spending all this time on your stupid study dates with your cute
new fiancée Kaori?" The same girl that had as good as
called her a murderess in training. And did her fiancé stick
up for her? 'Hah! They probably spend half their time with her
talking bad about me, and him thanking her for being so nice and
cute and sweet and a good cook!'

Well, at least now he knew what the problem was. It was just Akane
getting the wrong idea about him and another girl. Like he wasn't
familiar with that song and dance. "Jeez, Akane, usually whenever
you start blamin' me for something I didn't even do, you're at least
HALF right. Like, when Shampoo tries to get me to go on a date with
her, at least there's SOMEONE trying to get the thing going that
ticked you off." He snorted. "This time you ain't even
got that much right. I've met with her three times, and all we do
is go over stupid school stuff. Even a tomboy like you shouldn't
get jealous of a date," he rolled his eyes as he said
the last word, "like that."

"Do you really think I'm that stupid, Ranma?!" Akane
demanded. "Well, I've got news for you. I'm not dumb enough
to believe she'd go to the worst student in the school to help her!
If you're going to lie to my face about how innocent this all is,
you could at least try and think up a better story."

"Man, is there EVER a time you could jump to a conclusion,
and you don't?" Ranma complained. "I know I ain't the
greatest at all that school stuff, Akane. Thanks for throwin' it
back in my face, by the way. And yeah, Kaori did figure that out
the first time we met. Now she's the one helping me,"
he made a face, "whether I like it or not. She made me promise
to keep meeting with her so she could try to help me get my grades
up. Why everybody and their dog seems to know I never skip out on
a promise is more than I can figure.” That last was said in a grumbling
undertone. "And how every girl I meet knows I'm gonna cave
in if she looks like she's gonna cry is another thing I'd like to
find out someday."

"Ranma, this is so stupid," Akane said bitterly, more
hurt now than angry. “She came over to our house and said to your
face that she came back to go through with the engagement. And now
you're going off and meeting with her in private, and you're trying
to make it look like it's nothing more than just an innocent study
session?! I'm not that dumb, Ranma, and I don't think you are either."

"ARRGH!" Ranma threw up his hands in frustration. “For
cryin' out loud, Akane, which one of us has had girls throwin' themselves
at him for the last year? I think I should be able to recognize
it by now! She don't flirt with me, she isn't trying to get me to
do romantic stuff with her, she hasn't said ONE WORD about the engagement,
heck, she ain't even offered to cook for me! She's acting as different
from Shampoo as YOU do!"

Akane started to say something in response to this, but Ranma didn't
hear it. His attention had been riveted by an unexpected sound.
Unexpected because his keen senses had pinned it as coming from
the supposedly-empty air fifty feet behind and forty feet above
him.

By the time Shampoo had opened her eyes from the sneeze, Ranma
had already whirled and caught sight of her. This was more warning
than he usually got. All too often, Shampoo would descend from the
heavens like a Valkyrie who'd traded in her warhorse for a bicycle,
and his first warning would be the actual shock of impact. Here
and now, though, Ranma had just enough time to spring backward into
the air.

It was a purely reflex action, rather than one made through conscious
thought. Even as he left the ground, his tactical sense picked up
on an anomaly. Namely, the path of Shampoo's descent would have
brought her to a landing several feet behind him, rather than on
top of him. “Maybe the sneeze threw her aim off," he muttered.

Even Ranma is fully capable of misjudging someone else's plan of
attack. His evasive tactics actually helped Shampoo. The amorous
airborne Amazon gave a big smile and pushed away from her bike,
using it as the leverage she needed to initiate a jump directly
toward her Airen. The bicycle smashed into the ground with tremendous
force, leaving an impressive crater in the street yet somehow remaining
unharmed. Meanwhile, its mistress sailed directly toward her beloved.

Ranma would easily have been skilled enough to knock Shampoo away
with a punch or kick, but one might as well talk about Ryoga seducing
Akane. As she neared him, eyes gleaming, arms spread wide for a
welcoming hug, the most he could do was shoot out one hand, intending
to brace his palm against the top of her head and pivot himself
harmlessly around her. His eyes widened dramatically when Shampoo's
own hand whipped round, catching his wrist, pulling herself to him,
and gleefully locking her arms around his torso.

Now, in addition to the usual confusing ways Shampoo's full-body
embraces made him feel, Ranma was also shooting completely uncontrolled
through the air. He closed his eyes and braced himself, not looking
forward to the moment when he'd be the one absorbing the impact
for both of them.

The pavement approached… there was a confused whirling moment
of dizziness… and they landed, upright, Shampoo touching down
feet-first on the street, bracing herself to take the impact. If
Ranma had had his eyes open, he might have at least reacted in time
to keep the jolt from lodging his head in her cleavage. Probably
not, though… his track record with things like that wasn't very
good.

"Aiyah! Husband must really have missed Shampoo to
give greeting like this!" the Amazon teased.

Ranma extracted himself and staggered backward. "Hey, Shampoo,
how's it going?" he asked, with more than a hint of resignation
in his tone. Was there even a point to protesting? he wondered.
No. It would just be a waste of breath. "Haven't seen you for
a while."

"Shampoo miss you while gone, Airen, very much." She
winked at him. "Want to come over to Cat Café tonight
for all you can eat free dinner? Shampoo fix all you favorite foods."

"Excuse me." Akane's tone could have flash-frozen
mercury. “I’m sure I don't mind if you go off and spend the
evening with Shampoo, Ranma. But don't you think your fiancée Kaori
might be a little hurt?"

Shampoo's bubbly good humor waned noticeably. She looked from Ranma
to Akane, then back to Ranma. "What she talking about, Airen?"

"Oh, it's nothing important, Shampoo," Akane replied
before Ranma could say anything. "Just another fiancée
showed up while you were gone, that's all. Her name's Kaori Daikoku,
and her family owns a whole chain of restaurants.
How many times have you two gone out this week, Ranma? It was three,
wasn't it? Kaori sure moves fast," she said in an utterly false
tone of sweetness and light. "Well, what business is it of
mine anyway? Have a good time, you two." This last was more
growled than spoken, as Akane turned and stalked away. But at least
the anger kept her from feeling the hurt.

"Okay, Airen, Shampoo hear that from violent girl. Now what
is real story?" The Amazon pitched her voice loud enough that
Akane couldn't possibly miss it. Heck, people in adjacent buildings
probably heard.

"It ain't like that, that's for sure!" Ranma said vehemently.
"It's another one of those stupid promises my old man made
when I was a little kid and we were wandering around on a training
journey. He was hungry, and agreed to engage me to this guy's daughter
if the guy gave him a meal. Then he skipped out with me and hoped
he'd never see them again."

Shampoo snorted so fiercely that the long tassels of her hair flopped
an inch away from her chest. "She think she can walk in now
and expect to get husband like you, for stupid little price paid
of one meal to panda father?! Is insult to good man like Airen."
She gave him a piercing stare. "And what violent girl say about
dates, where she get that wrong?"

"Huh. Those so-called 'dates' are just her helping me with
my schoolwork. Which I don't even want anyway, but she kinda made
me promise to go along with it."

The Amazon was smiling cheerfully again. "So she insult worth
of Airen AND she waste you time. No worry, Ranma, Shampoo know you
not like to hit girls. I go and take care of this one for you."

"Thanks, Shampoo, I… What! No, you can't do that!"
Ranma protested.

"Why not?" The dangerous gleam was back in Shampoo's
eye. "You say she nothing to you, right?"

"That's kinda the POINT, Shampoo! She ain't tried to get me
on a date or nothing. She hasn't caused me any trouble at all yet!"
Not counting Akane's reaction, but Ranma was sure she'd have found
something else to misunderstand if Kaori hadn't been there. "And
you know, not liking to hit girls kinda means I don't want OTHER
people to go hurt them FOR me, either!"

Shampoo paused for a moment, then said decisively, "Ranma,
you look Shampoo in eyes and tell how you really feel about new
girl. Take what time you need to get words right."

It didn't take him all that long to find those words. "I wish
she hadn't come. I don't need more complications in my life. But
since she is here, I'm at least glad that she's not trying to get
all romantic or cause me trouble."

After another few seconds of piercing scrutiny, Shampoo was satisfied.
Whoever this new girl was, or whatever she thought might be the
case, she wasn't a rival. The Amazon still intended to check this
Kaori out from a distance sometime soon, just to be able to put
a face to the name, but there didn't seem to be any need to take
things further. "And she not hit you, feed you poison, call
you stupid names? Okay, Airen, Shampoo leave her alone until she
do something to hurt you."

Anyone who believes that one person can't make a real difference
has never been to Furinkan High School, unless they visited while
Principal Kuno was away in Hawaii. The 'headmaster from Hell' was
ultimately responsible for ruining the high school experience of
more individuals than could be easily counted. He took a positive
delight in aggravating and attempted bullying of the student body.
And if he usually left a way for them to squirm out of the really
annoying schemes, this was because it was more fun to watch them
writhe and wriggle their way free. After all, if he really did
give all the kids bad haircuts, what would he have left to threaten
them the next time he was bored?

For some reason, Principal Kuno didn't get anywhere near the same
level of enjoyment from harassing teachers as he did the students.
When he'd first become the headmaster of Furinkan, he had had every
intention of being an equal-opportunity annoyance, dedicated to
giving a hard time to instructors and pupils alike. But it just
hadn't been any fun, possibly because the teachers either needed
their jobs too badly to put up any fight, or didn't, and quit. These
days, Principal Kuno didn't bother trying to torment the teachers;
he dragooned them into playing supporting roles when a more elaborate
scheme needed extra labor, and ignored them otherwise.

Ironically enough, however, the teachers generally hated the situation
at Furinkan worse than the students. After all, the latter could
escape after three years. Having taught at Furinkan didn't exactly
spice up an educator's resume, and the longer he'd been there, the
likelier he'd be there for good. Many a naive, optimistic, idealistic
young teacher, fresh out of university, had found those qualities
drained from them like water from an unstoppered sink, once they
were trapped in Furinkan.

Ranma Saotome, currently sinking in a morass of adenosine triphosphates,
aerobic and anaerobic respirations, and glycolipid absorption reactions,
found himself wishing his biology teacher was one of them.

"This is ridiculous!" Ranma agreed wholeheartedly with
this, but it was actually Kaori who had spoken. This was the fourth
time now that they had gotten together at her place for a study
session. "Why are we studying material of this level?! This
seems more like something we ought to get at university!"

Ranma gave an aggrieved sigh. "I think this is Mr. Takashi's
way of fightin' back, or something. Ain't none of the teachers who
like Principal Kuno, but most of them just keep their heads down,
don't make waves, and try to ignore all the junk he piles on us
at school. Far as I know, Mr. Takashi's the only one who pushes
this kind of work load on his students. He says he's doin' his best
to get us ready for college. That if we can handle stuff like this
now, it'll help us then." He snorted. "And may the Kami
have mercy on any student who tells him maybe he don't want
to go on to university."

"Don't you?" Kaori asked inquisitively.

"Are you kidding?! Bad enough I have to suffer through this
junk now. No WAY am I going to put myself through four more years
or however long it is of hell!"

"Ranma, you shouldn't look at it like that," his study
companion said gently. "You've never been to any high school
other than Furinkan, have you?" When he grunted and shook his
head, she went on, "The place is a madhouse. It's nothing like
the high school I was attending before I transferred here."

"Huh? No pineapple-headed morons with haircut fetishes?"

Kaori shook her head, smiling a little. "Not a one. No insane
kendoists or chi-vampire teachers either. Even the clubs there are
normal… no chemistry nerds brewing up nitroglycerine in the back
room."

"Bet you wish you were back there sometimes," Ranma commented,
absently selecting a pork bun from the plate of snacks Kaori had
provided for the session, and beginning to munch.

"Sometimes, yes. It was a much better school than Furinkan,
that's for sure. And that's why I said you shouldn't look at university
as if it will be more of the same. It won’t. It won't be nearly
as bad as this."

"Huh. Maybe it wouldn't be so crazy, but that just means I'd
be bored outta my skull. This kinda stuff just isn't interesting
to me, Kaori." Ranma gestured to the open biology textbook.
"I mean, look at this. It drones on and on and on about just
what chemical processes happen when a muscle contracts. I start
thinkin' about that in the middle of a fight, and next thing you
know I'm gonna be on the ground taking a short nap. Or not so short,
dependin' on who I was fighting."

"There's more to university than just this. Really, there's
more to school in general. Or there should be." Kaori felt
a pang as she thought back to the friends she'd left behind when
she came to Nerima. "As long as you're at Furinkan, you aren't
really seeing school like it should be."

"Well, it ain't like I was given a choice about going there
or not," Ranma grumbled. "Y'know, Kaori, you oughta go
back to your old school, if you liked it a lot better than this
one. It’s just gonna be a matter of time before Principal Kuno comes
up with some new stupid stunt to make our lives miserable. You wouldn't
want that pretty haircut mangled or nothin', would you?"

"N-no, I wouldn't," Kaori said, blushing faintly. Fortunately
Ranma didn't notice, as he was attending to another pork bun. She
had recovered her composure by the time he looked back at her. "Anyway,
I have it on good authority," meaning the to-do list she had
found when she raided the Furinkan office a while back, "that
his next scheme is going to be changing the dress code. The boys
will be wearing swim trunks, and the girls will get grass skirts
and leis. And nothing else."

Ranma gave a strangled sound of apprehension. That'd nail him both
coming and going. "Definitely gonna be time for a training
trip soon. Let the other guys deal with this one."

"I don't think the guys will do much protesting,"
Kaori said with a smile. "But the girls will probably rush
the podium and beat him to a pulp before he even finishes speaking."

"Now that might be fun to watch," Ranma chuckled. "Maybe
you could string him up with that Ramen Noodle Noose thingie of
yours."

Kaori blinked. "When did you see me use that? I never saw
you after the start of the Martial Arts Takeout race." Before
Ranma could do much more than begin to sweat, she continued, "Were
you just watching from somewhere I couldn't see?"

"Uh, yeah, that's it exactly," Ranma said. 'At least
for the first half of the race…'"You had some pretty
good moves, I thought."

"Thank you, Ranma. I would have won, too, if I hadn't been
double-teamed." Kaori glowered off into the distance for a
moment. "Things would have been different."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he kept quiet. After a long
moment of silence, she spoke again, in a more tentative tone that
was usual for her. "I think about it sometimes. Do you? What
it would have been like to leave this place behind? You wouldn't
have been trapped in Furinkan. You wouldn't have had to deal with
nearly so much stress, or so many doctor's visits. I’d like to think
you'd have been happier, if I'd managed to win that contest then."

"Yeah, well, I dunno. I don't like being forced into stuff,
Kaori." That was about as subtle as Ranma felt capable of being.

She inclined her head. "I know."

He blinked. "You do? How?"

"Silly, it didn't take me all that long to figure out, once
we were spending time together like this."

Now there was a definite chill running up and down his spine. "Whaddaya
mean by that? I thought these were just, you know, study dates."

"Of course they are that, Ranma." Kaori met his gaze
fearlessly. "But it's more than just that, isn't it? It's a
chance for us to get to know each other. A chance to start out slow,
without any pressure, and build something solid. Instead of just
being thrown together as fiancées." 'I tried that
last time, and it didn't work very well.'

'So was I right, or was Akane?'

Ranma was now walking back to the Tendo place, much more slowly
than usual. He was mulling over the revelation from his latest get-together
with Kaori. It had come as a shock, and a rather nasty one too,
that the innocent study sessions had indeed been motivated by her
desire as a fiancée to get closer to him. Kaori, apparently sensing
his skittish discomfort, had called an end to the session shortly
after she'd said her piece about growing to know one another without
any pressure forcing them together. She'd said that she wasn't willing
to spend any more of her Saturday morning with ridiculously in-depth
biology studies, but this time even Ranma could see a deeper meaning
behind the words.

He had been pretty unhappy as he began the walk away from the Daikoku
apartment. So she WAS thinking of herself as a fiancée for
real! Well, okay, really he should've known that from the beginning,
after what she'd said at the Tendo place. But he hadn't thought
it had anything to do with the study sessions! And who could blame
him? Like he'd told Akane, she really hadn't tried anything romantic
at all. Her attitude had mainly been brisk and businesslike, reminding
him somewhat of Nabiki in her more helpful moments. Except Kaori
didn't charge any yen for her time and effort. Or wear an occasional
smirk when some problem of his amused her.

There had been glimpses, though, through that no-nonsense facade.
By the time he was out of sight of Kaori's apartment building, Ranma
had turned his thoughts to these, searching his memory, analyzing
them as best he could. Each time he came up with the same conclusion.

Namely, behind Kaori's impersonal, focused-on-the-schoolwork mien,
there had been overtones of friendship. Not romance. Not desire.
Not (brief shudder) wedding bells and thrown rice and til-death-do-you-part.
Simple friendship—one area where he never seemed to have much luck.

He remembered something from class on Thursday. His math teacher
had sprung a pop quiz on the students, and it just so happened that
the subject was one he and Kaori had spent most of their third session
covering. Ranma had been surprised to find that most of the questions
on the quiz were easy. On Friday, when the papers were passed back,
the teacher gave him a few words of surprised congratulations on
his B+. After staring at the paper for a few seconds, Ranma had
glanced over at Kaori. She was already looking his way. The expression
on her face had been pleased satisfaction. She was happy for him,
he thought, and also probably proud of what she had accomplished.

But the main thing he remembered now was what hadn't been
there. Happiness, yes, satisfaction, no doubt, but that was all.
Ranma had seen no trace of the love-light that often sparkled in
Shampoo's or (in the past, anyway) Ukyo's eyes. He'd seen that many
times, even occasionally from Akane when she was under some kind
of spell or something, and it usually made him uncomfortable. If
he were honest with himself, more often than not it frightened him.
Ranma knew there was a lot he wasn't ready to handle yet, due to
having grown up the way he did with the father he had. Personally,
he thought it was a miracle he'd turned out as good as he was, with
Genma as the main influence in his life. But that didn't mean he
was prepared yet to deal with something as fragile and mysterious
as a girl's heart.

Not that Ranma thought of it in such poetic terms. He just knew
he wasn't ready for the stuff most of his fiancées seemed eager
to drag him into.

Which thought had brought him back to Kaori. His mood was beginning
to improve by now, as his natural resilience fought to overcome
the bad mood he'd had at the start of the walk. Maybe she really
meant it about not pushing him, not forcing him, not trying to take
things any faster than he was ready for. Maybe he really could have
another fiancée who was a friend first and foremost.

'Just look at today,' he thought. 'She probably knew
I didn't feel like sticking around and talking more just then. She
didn't push or nothing, just ended the session like it wasn't any
big deal and let me go on my way.' He tried and failed to imagine
Shampoo reacting similarly. His thoughts shied away from Ukyo. 'Heck,
it was even less awkward than something like that would've been
with Akane. Wonder why that is.'

Trying to understand Akane was one area where he never had much
success. Not really being in the mood for more deep thought at this
point, Ranma pushed his contemplations aside. He was feeling better
now, and that was all he really needed for the moment.

A turn in his path had just brought him onto a street with a fence
on one side. As was his habit, at least when not recuperating from
a recent battle, Ranma left the street behind with an impressive
leap, landing on the fence to continue his walk along the far narrower
pathway. At this point it didn't really hone his balance any further,
but it would at least keep his skills from deteriorating. Even though
he did run the risk of falling into the canal on the other side
of—

"LOOK OUT!!"

Ranma's head whipped around to face the direction of the shout.
An out-of-control cart heavily laden with packages was speeding
directly toward his section of fence. From the pace, it was clear
that when it hit, no amount of balancing finesse would keep him
safely on the top rail and out of the water.

This was where he should have frozen in place, his eyes bugging
out and his arms waving ineffectively, until the runaway struck
and catapulted him into the drink. However, Ranma, apparently not
having read the script, jumped forward instead. His new speed training
came to good use here, as he landed on one foot beside the cart
and snaked out the other more quickly than the eye could follow,
striking a rear wheel and smashing it into immobility. The cart
made a screeching, grinding turn that left it and its cargo resting
safely a few feet short of the fence.

Ranma smirked at the sight for a moment, then glanced around. There
were a couple of passersby a little ways up the street from which
the cart had come, who were currently staring at him with their
eyes as wide as saucers—'Must be new to Nerima,' he thought—but
no sign of anyone who might be responsible for the runaway. He toyed
with the idea of sticking around until someone did show up in the
hopes that there might be some kind of reward, but then dismissed
the idea as something more appropriate for his old man. It was reward
enough that he'd avoided being splashed.

From the other side of the canal, a pair of eyes regarded him intently.
The distance between Ranma and the watcher, not to mention the two
chain-link fences, made it difficult to compare him with the photograph
clenched tightly in one hand. But there were other criteria by which
a judgment could be made, and the observer's heart beat quickly
now, anticipating an end to a long, long journey. Of course, a new
one would begin immediately thereafter, but such is the way of life.
She was actually quite looking forward to it.

Ranma hadn't gone very far when he began to get that old, familiar
feeling. That distinct sensation when the hair stands up on the
back of the neck, and the mouth suddenly goes dry, and the certain
knowledge of an impending attack causes the heart rate to speed
up.

He cranked up his awareness of the immediate surroundings, and
paused for a moment, hoping at least that this time that he could
catch sight of whoever was after his hide before they were descending
on him, shouting some variation of "Ranma, prepare to die!"
Of course, his challengers weren't always that courteous. In fact,
usually the first time an opponent appeared, they'd just charge
in without any warning at all. Ryoga… Mousse… Shampoo back when
she was hunting his girl form… it had been the same thing in each
case. So he wasn't all that surprised now as the seconds ticked
by with no cries of challenge.

After waiting a few moments, Ranma began walking again, more slowly
this time, and with his senses still on full alert for an ambush.
As it turned out, though, he needn't have bothered… a few minutes
of walking brought him around a corner into a larger street, with
a vacant lot a little ways ahead of him. And in the center of that
lot, facing directly toward him, stood a figure in an obvious combat
stance.

Ranma paused, studying the other, and heaved a sigh of resignation.
One of the bad things about being as good as he was, was how his
reputation would draw kooks as well as serious challengers. Not
that he was in the mood for a real fight just now, but dealing with
putzes like this generally left a disgusted taste in his mouth.

The other stood about as tall as he did, with a more slender build.
That was about all the detail Ranma could make out, as his challenger
was clothed head-to-toe in an obviously-homemade ninja outfit. Ranma
would have been willing to bet every last yen he owned that the
inspiration for the garb had been either a kid's anime or a Halloween
costume, and he was all but certain the mask had started out life
as a pillowcase. A pair of cheap, tourist-gimmicky sai stuck in
a belt around the other's waist completed the impression of incompetence.

He sighed again, then walked forward into the lot. "Yo…
You looking for me?"

"If you're Ranma Saotome." It was more growled than spoken.

"I am. Guess we haven't met before, huh? So what's your problem?"

"Problem? What problem?" Maybe this guy just had a sore
throat or something, Ranma speculated. He was still speaking as
gruffly as before, but there had been honest surprise in the response.
"This is a challenge, Saotome. That's all."

"Right. It mighta been nice to get, like, a letter or something
first, but never mind," he replied sarcastically. "You
gonna give me a name to go with this challenge?"

"No. Not yet, anyway." Now there was amusement in the
growl. "Maybe I'll tell you later."

"Ohhhhkay. So what endpoint you want for this?" Ranma
snorted, giving the sai a disdainful glance. "First blood?"

"We'll end the match with knockout or submission." The
figure drew the sai and gave them an elaborate twirl. "And
it starts now!"

'Man, I never thought I'd find someone who was more ridiculous
in battle than Tsubasa,' Ranma thought disgustedly, as the shinobi
wannabe began sidling toward him in the most ridiculously exaggerated
parody he'd ever seen of the way movies messed up a ninja's stalking
gait. 'This is one guy who really needs to find a new
hobby. Guess convincing him of that is gonna be my good deed for
the afternoon.'

By now his opponent had sidled close enough for Ranma to clearly
note that the edges of the sai were as dull as butter knives. The
pigtailed martial artist had seen letter openers that came to a
sharper point, and can openers made of higher-quality steel. Shaking
his head one last time in aggravation and resignation, he darted
forward, tensing for a power kick to his opponent's shoulder. Ranma
was all but certain that the first bit of real pain would—

The instant he had committed to the attack, everything changed.
With speed not far from the Amaguriken, his opponent whipped his
right arm in an arc, releasing one sai. Ranma was caught too much
by surprise to block, and its hilt smacked him in the center of
his forehead. His opponent's remaining sai was airborne as well,
released from the grip of the left hand to land discarded on the
ground.

Before it had fallen more than an inch, its former wielder had
closed the remaining distance to Ranma. He'd been caught at the
perfect moment of awkwardness at the beginning of his own attack,
knocked off-balance by the sudden shift in his opponent's apparent
skill level as much as the blow to his forehead. And fast though
he was, he couldn't recover nearly quickly enough now. The challenger
pivoted as he reached Ranma, bringing his left elbow up diagonally
into his target's jaw. The blow disoriented Ranma further and knocked
him back a pace. Meanwhile, his attacker was still turning, coming
out of a full three-sixty, his right heel driving into Ranma's side
in a tight spin kick. Another rotation, and another kick, a more
powerful one that slammed into his hip and actually knocked him
a couple of inches into the air. He hit the ground and rolled a
few feet backward before forcing himself back to his feet.

The entire attack sequence had taken a little more than two seconds.

"There's a Western saying for times like these." This
time there was a clear sense of smug amusement behind the gruff
tones. "Never judge a book by its cover." He inclined
his head. "Or its pillowcase."

"You fight as dirty as my old man," Ranma snapped, assuming
a real stance this time.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

THAT comment was enough to jar the Saotome heir right out of his
readiness. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped, and his opponent
blazed forward again.

Declining to be caught off-guard this time, Ranma backpedaled,
blocking the flurry of kicks and punches with no real difficulty.
At the first available break in the tempo of the attack, he launched
a few quick blows of his own. His opponent couldn't quite manage
to deflect them, absorbing them instead on crossed forearms.

And then, as Ranma's next punch shot forward, the nameless challenger
lifted one arm and lowered the other, twisting them to pin Ranma's
wrist. The pigtailed martial artist swung his free hand around in
a hard blow aimed toward the elbow. It would have freed his arm
had it landed, but his opponent was already moving, pivoting in
the same direction as Ranma's countermove, sending him flying into
the air with a heavily modified Judo throw.

Of course, finding himself involuntarily airborne was rather less
trouble for a practitioner of Saotome Anything Goes than for the
average teenage martial artist. Ranma righted himself effortlessly
and landed in a new ready stance. This time it was his opponent's
turn to boggle, shock causing the tight stance to loosen, and his
jaw hanging slack (not that this could be seen behind the mask,
of course).

"Nice try," Ranma snorted, and dashed forward. 'Two
can play the 'attack-while-the-other-guy's-distracted-game.'

WHAM! His opponent flowed smoothly to one side, reaching out almost
gently to grasp hold of Ranma's outstretched arm, redirecting his
momentum with an Aikido technique that sent the pigtailed martial
artist slamming into the ground. Ranma quickly rolled to one side,
evading the follow-up Dragon Stamp (a technique that was certainly
NOT found in the art of Aikido).He sprang back to his feet, immediately
following this with a more impressive jump that put a couple of
meters between himself and his foe.

It had not escaped Ranma's attention that holding back was giving
him the worst of these exchanges. For a brief moment he considered
going to full Amaguriken speed and unloading a couple hundred punches
and kicks into his opponent. Nah, he decided, he was irritated,
but not that irritated. Instead… "MOKO TAKABISHA!"

The other didn't even try to dodge. Instead, he shot his hands
forward as if to intercept the chi blast. Then, as the missile struck,
he ripped them apart with a grunt. The chi projectile shattered,
for want of a better word, exploding into coruscating sparks and
streams of energy.

Through the fading haze came his opponent, charging forward and
launching a whirlwind series of punches. He had been fast before,
but now—temporarily boosted as he was with power leeched from the
disrupted chi attack—it was all Ranma could do to block the offensive.

Block it the pigtailed martial artist did, however, holding nothing
back now that he was purely on the defensive. His guard held rock
steady, and after half a minute the other's onslaught faltered.
The blows had been incredibly fast, Ranma noted, but not really
all that powerful.

As his mysterious adversary broke the attack, Ranma heard him gulping
for air. "Sounds like somebody's about hit his limit,"
he observed with his trademark irritatingly cocky grin. "Tryin'
to beat me with speed tends to do that. Ya might be able to give
me a workout in a couple more years, though."

The other gave a wordless cry of rage and charged forward, in an
attack almost as sloppy as his initial pose had appeared.
It was Ranma's turn to shift quickly to the side. Instead of an
Aikido move—he wasn't really fond of them anyway—he swung low and
snaked one foot out to sweep his enemy.

The Saotome heir never would be quite able to reconstruct what
happened next. His attack did indeed take his opponent's feet out
from under him… but somehow the other twisted in midair (how the
HECK did he get so flexible?!), jackknifing both legs around to
catch Ranma's upper right arm between his ankles. This left him
inverted, his bent neck and hunched shoulders all that kept his
head from hitting the ground. He bent at the waist, his torso coming
up, and one hand shooting ahead and around to touch Ranma in just
the right spot on the back of his neck.

Even as his opponent's legs had locked around his arm, Ranma had
begun moving to disengage. And so the strike to his Instant Unconsciousness
point was merely a glancing connection which left him stunned and
reeling, rather than taking a short nap. His opponent continued
the motion into a flip away from Ranma, landing feet first and turning
back to face him.

"Yield." The other was still panting for breath, but
neither that nor the hoarse tone of voice disguised the triumph
behind the word.

Yield?! Give up?! Like HELL he would! Ranma would have liked to
yell his defiance back in his enemy's face, but remaining on his
feet was taking just about all he had left. The world was spinning
and twisting in dizzying whirls. His vision was blurry, and there
was a roaring in his ears. His muscles felt like water…

Ranma's body might have been on the verge of collapse, but he still
could still access his chi. With a supreme effort, he steadied one
hand, croaked, "Moko Takabisha," and loosed a ball of
energy. The other just shook his head at the sight. A valiant attempt,
and very impressive that he'd managed it, but the attack had gone
wildly astray, its course sending it out of the lot and into the
street rather than toward Ranma's opponent.

The chi smashed into a fire hydrant… and as inevitably as the
sun rising in the east, the resultant spray of water struck the
nearest victim of Jusenkyo. Ranma-chan got back to her feet, bruised
from the impact, and very, VERY unhappy, but no longer suffering
from the shiatsu strike. The Instant Unconsciousness point was just
slightly different in men and women.

"What the HELL?!"

The cry resounded through the air, easily drowning out the noise
of the rushing water. Ranma-chan blinked. That certainly hadn't
been the gruff tones the other had been using until now. In fact…

His challenger reached up with one trembling hand and ripped off
the ninja mask. Even before the action was complete, Ranma-chan
already sensed the important part of what was going to be revealed.

The cloth came away, revealing an angular face framed by shoulder-length
brown hair. The cheekbones were sharper than would normally be considered
attractive. The eyes were a tawny hazel color, with some trick of
the overall facial structure making them seem as piercing as those
of a hawk. The lips could not remotely be described as full; at
the moment, shock had whitened them and thinned them even further.
The nose was thin as well, and sharp as a knife's edge.

And the neck held absolutely no Adam's Apple whatsoever. This was
a girl rather less attractive than he usually encountered, but it
was a girl nonetheless.

"Care to explain yourself, Ranma?" she asked, shock and
discomfiture plain to be heard. "This isn't the kind of thing
a girl expects to see when she meets her fiancé for the first time."

For a moment, Ranma-chan just stood there, bedraggled, dripping
wet, shoulders slumped, head downcast, the very picture of someone
who feels like the heavens are having just a little too much fun
at her expense. Then she heaved a deep sigh, straightened up, and
said, "Any particular reason you didn't introduce yourself
right from the start?"

Her recent opponent snorted. "Simple. You're a guy,"
Ranma-chan glared as she heard a definite trace of uncertainty there,
"and that usually means you'd hold back if you knew you were
fighting a girl. I didn't want that. I wanted to know how good you
really were.

"Guess I saw that, all right. But I think we've got some more
important things to talk about." The girl strode over, closing
the distance between them and peering right into Ranma-chan's face.
"No, it's not that illusion trick Lao Che used," she said
to herself absently. "Your eyes would be glowing. Is this real?
How the heck did you turn into a girl?!"

"Guess you never heard of Jusenkyo, huh?" When the other
girl shook her head, Ranma-chan gave the basic explanation.

"I don't believe it," the other girl said, though her
tone made it clear she was protesting against the strangeness rather
than calling Ranma-chan a liar. "I've seen some crazy things,
but nothing this bad." She regarded Ranma-chan contemplatively
for a bit, then stepped back and fixed her with a piercing stare.
"So how do you feel about this curse, Saotome?"

"What kinda stupid question is that?!" Ranma-chan all
but exploded. "I am a GUY. Tried a whole buncha times to get
it cured, but it never seems to work out. I HATE the damn thing!!"

"I hear you." Ranma-chan wondered why the other girl
looked relieved. "No offense, I just had to ask. So you said
hot water will turn you back to normal, right? Let's go get some…
there's a cafe right over there."

A few minutes later, the two of them were seated at a table after
each making use of one of the restrooms. Ranma was back in his birth
form. His newest fiancée had taken the opportunity to change her
outfit and remove the chest bindings she'd used to conceal her true
gender. Not that it had been a hard secret to keep, as the figure
this revealed was a bit less impressive than Akane's.

Once they were seated, a rather awkward silence fell, broken only
when the girl ordered tea from a passing waitress. Ranma barely
noticed when the beverage arrived; he was too busy thinking dark
thoughts toward Genma. He nearly jumped out of his chair when his
companion cleared her throat loudly.

"So! Where do you want to start getting to know each other?"
she asked.

"Ah, okay, how about telling me your name?" Ranma asked.

A long, even more awkward moment of silence, as the as-yet-anonymous
girl was now staring incredulously at him. At last she said, "You
didn't care enough to remember your own fiancée's name?!" Shock
was the strongest emotion present in her tone, but hints of pain
and anger were noticeable as well.

"Seein' as how my old man never told me about you, it's not
really my fault, now is it?"

"Nope," Ranma said bitterly. "That ain't how it
works. Pop never mentions these stupid arrangements until one of
them blows up in my face. You're… let's see… yeah, you're the
fourth fiancée Pop's arranged for me. How many more are lurking
out there, only my old man knows."

"I see." The girl's face was nearly as white as a sheet.
"I'm… my name is Kaede. Kaede Hayashibara."

"An' what's your story? I mean, when and how and why did we
get engaged?" Ranma asked resignedly.

"It…" Kaede took a deep breath, seeming to pull herself
together a little. "It was about eleven years ago. I may not
get all the details right, because I was off visiting relatives
at the time this happened. My father told me the story later.

"Anyway, at the time, my father owned and operated a dojo.
One day, your training trip brought you and Genma to his door. Your
father challenged mine; if he won, Dad would provide the two of
you with room and board for a week. If he lost, you and Genma would
do any odd jobs that needed doing, free of charge."

Kaede looked down into her still-untouched cup of tea. "Dad's
eyes still light up when he talks about that battle, Ranma,"
she said. "Our family has some very effective techniques that
were never taught to the regular students. Dad used them all when
he fought your father, but he couldn't take him down. He simply
couldn't keep up with the way your father switched techniques so
quickly, or with the sheer experience Genma had.

"After the fight was over, he humbly requested that Genma
stay and teach him and me. Your father refused, saying that if he
were chained down in one place he'd never be able to make you into
the martial artist he wanted. He said you were going to be the best
of your generation some day, but only if he could train you properly.
And that meant keeping to the open road, going around and learning
the best of what all the other schools had to offer, and working
it into your own Anything Goes style.

"The way Dad tells it, he had never heard anyone so wise,
so understanding of what it truly meant to be a martial artist."
Kaede was still looking down, so she missed Ranma's rolling eyes
and his head-shake of disgust. "He and Genma talked a while
longer. Eventually they agreed to engage the two of us, and in return
Dad would teach your father our family's techniques."

'So this time the old man didn't actually take anything away
from them, huh? Least this is better than that business with Ucchan,'
Ranma thought sourly. Out loud he said, "And we weren't supposed
to take you with us when we left?"

Kaede shook her head. "Dad wanted that, but Genma said no.
You were only about six years old then, and I was seven. He said
that if Dad and I went with the two of you, you and I would grow
up thinking of ourselves as brother and sister." She paused,
then said, softer and only to herself, "That's right, isn't
it? It wouldn't have worked out if we'd gone along with them. But
why would he arrange other fiancées too…?"

Ranma snorted. "Come on. Why don't I take you to him an' let
you ask him that yourself?"

"…Right." Kaede's eyes hardened. She slugged down the
now-cool tea in one long series of gulps, and got to her feet. "Let's
go, Ranma."

Genma tensed. The situation was critical, even desperate. He would
need every scrap of his cunning and skill to escape this time. Desperately
he wracked his brain, searching for inspiration… and then it struck.
He stiffened, and said, in just the right tone of suppressed anxiety,
"Don't look now, Tendo, but I think I see another prince making
off with your daughter. "

Soun blanched, and spun to look in the direction Genma had indicated.
Instantly the elder Saotome struck. His hands flashed across the
shogi board, removing some pieces, replacing others, and rearranging
the rest. Once he was content with the revised position, he cleared
his throat and said, "Oops, my mistake, sorry about that. It
was just an effect of the laundry billowing in the wind." Soun
turned back to face him, panic already fading into resignation as
he realized what he was going to see. Sure enough, the new configuration
of the board allowed Genma to end his turn with victory. "Good
game, old friend. Shall we go again?"

The Tendo patriarch closed his eyes and breathed heavily. "Saotome,
there are some lines that should not be crossed. How would you like
it if I distracted you by saying I saw your son running
off with yet another girl?!"

"Hey, Pop!"

The shout had come from behind him. Wondering why Soun had suddenly
gone grey in the face, Genma turned to face his son. "What
is it, b—"He cut the last word off, managing only with difficulty
not to let his jaw hang open in shock and dismay.

"Hello, Genma," Kaede said in a clipped tone. She gave
a very sketchy bow. "I am Kaede Hayashibara, daughter of Soichiro
Hayashibara, who you met eleven years ago. You and my father arranged
an engagement between Ranma and me. Would you care to explain why
there are three other girls who can say the same thing?"

Had the girl come at another time, things might have gone differently.
But the recent frantic round of cheat shogi had left Genma's brain
warmed up and limber, as opposed to the usual somnolent state. And
so, he had the presence of mind to school his expression to calmness,
and say, "Come with me, then, girl, and I'll explain."

He rose to his feet and began walking in the direction of the dojo.
Kaede and Ranma followed, causing Genma to halt. "Not you,
boy," he said. "I need to speak with her privately."

Ranma snorted. "So you can feed her some line of bull without
me there to keep her from being suckered? I don't think so."

Genma forced a mixture of disappointment and disapproval into his
tone. "Boy, she doesn't need you to hold her hand. The fact
that she's here at all means she's already proved she can take care
of herself." He turned to Kaede. "Will you listen to what
I have to say?"

Kaede took a long moment to consider, looking first at Genma, then
turning her gaze to Ranma. Eventually she said, "Ranma, let
me go and talk to him now. Don't know why he wouldn't want you to
listen in, but if it sounds like it isn't a good reason I'll come
to you afterward and see what you think about what he said."

Ranma gave a long sigh. Yet another person who didn't listen to
him. "Fine, Kaede. Guess I'll look for you in a few minutes
then." He walked out into the yard and began practicing Amaguriken-speed
kicks to let out frustration.

Kaede and Genma continued toward the dojo, Genma leading the way
and walking a little more slowly than he might have. He kept his
face impassive, but inwardly his mind was whirling with a speed
it very rarely attained, calling back all the memories of the encounter
with the Hayashibara family and the subsequent engagement deal,
twisting and turning and plotting the best way to 'explain' things
now to Kaede. 'Let's see, it happened a few months after that
run-in with the Kuonjis…'

They reached the dojo, which fortunately was not currently inhabited
by Akane. Genma sat down in a lotus position near the center of
the building. Kaede seated herself as well, and put on her best
challenging stare. Genma let the silence hold for just a minute
longer, then said, "You were not to seek out my son until you
had achieved a certain goal. Have you done that?"

"I have," Kaede growled, annoyed at having her integrity
questioned, and her temper beginning to fray at the delays. As far
as she was concerned, the only important question for now was the
one she'd already asked. "I didn't come looking for Ranma until
I had defeated the heirs of ten consecutive dojo, without one loss
to break the string of wins."

Genma inclined his head. "Well done, then." Privately
he was more than a little dismayed that his tactic to keep this
engagement from ever rearing its ugly head again had failed. He
would have been willing to bet quite a lot that a girl would never
have been able to accomplish that task. But apparently she had.
Given what he remembered of her father, there was no way she would
be here now if she had backed down from the challenge. "How
did you learn so well? Did your father do what he had said he was
going to do, leave your dojo behind and take you on the road, so
that you could learn in the true fashion of Anything Goes?"

"He did." Kaede's voice was grimmer than ever. "When
I was ten years old he entrusted the dojo to someone else, and the
two of us traveled all over Japan. Even into China and India for
a little while." Her voice began to rise. "I spent eight
years preparing to meet my fiancé, and—"

"Did you?" Genma cut her off, the question striking like
a snake. "Did you really spend that much time preparing to
meet my boy… or did you train to become the best martial artist
that YOU could be? The heir that your father told me he wanted,
that you wanted to be?"

Kaede blinked. She was conscious of a definite feeling of having
the wind taken out of her sails. "Um… ah…" she pulled
herself together somewhat, "Okay, it was the second one."
With her balance recovered, her spirit began to rise again as well.
"And what does that have to do with this situation, anyway?"

"It has EVERYTHING to do with it!" Genma declared. "Surely
you have learned that the path of the true martial artist is fraught
with peril and challenges. It is in striving against those that
we become who we are, that we test ourselves and grow stronger!
Have you not seen this?"

"Of course I have."

"Have you ever backed down from a challenge?"

"I have not!"

"No. You’ve met them and risen higher because of it."
Genma paused for effect. "In fact, I dare say many of them
were put before you by your father, for that very purpose. That
was one lesson he had learned even before I met him, all those years
ago."

"I'm still waiting to hear how this fits in with you getting
other fiancées for your son besides me." Kaede's tone made
it clear that she wouldn't wait much longer.

"There are two reasons." Genma met her gaze squarely,
calling on every scrap of fortitude he could scrape together, and
thanking all the kami that she hadn't grown up into a particularly
pretty girl. No Saotome male in the last five generations had been
able to deal well with those. "First… I want the best possible
match for my boy. And so, yes, I did arrange several engagements,
with girls who had great potential for the Art and the promise of
strength of character. But who was to say whether, ten years down
the road, those promises would come true? Already we've seen one
girl who didn't have enough drive or grit to stick to it in the
face of competition, and dropped out. And others haven't shown up
yet, haven't even bothered to try to find their fiancé." Or
at least he'd managed to cover his tracks well enough to keep them
away.

"So you're saying this is just another competition."
There was anger in Kaede's tone, but not so much as before. It had
been diluted with resignation. "Just one more challenge I have
to rise to, if I'm going to be worthy of him? You've got a pretty
high opinion of your son, Genma Saotome."

"He's the best I've ever seen for his age." For this
moment, there was no twisted truth or white lies in what Genma was
saying. "He has the most potential of anyone I've ever
seen. He is what I wanted him to be… the best martial artist of
his generation. But that doesn't mean either he or I can slack off
now."

Now back to putting a good spin on things. "That's the other
side of the coin. How do you think the boy feels about this business
with multiple fiancées?" He didn't bother to wait for her answer.
"It's certainly not easy on him. But like you, he doesn't back
away from a challenge. And this is just one more I've arranged for
him, not just one trial but a long series of them, to strengthen
him AND the girl he ends up marrying. Their life together will be
all the sweeter for having had to go through such turmoil to get
there."

"I see." Kaede fell silent, studying him intently for
a few moments. Genma tried not to sweat. At last she said, "And
why exactly did you not want Ranma to hear this?"

Fortunately Genma was prepared for the question. He heaved a deep,
theatrical sigh. "I think there's one thing your father did
better in your training than I managed with Ranma. It seems clear
that you understood just why he placed obstacles in your path—to
spur you on, to make you struggle higher. But Ranma has never accepted
that. I think he believes that he has become as good as he is in
spite of my efforts, rather than because of them.

"And so I didn't want him here now. He's still not ready to
hear my reasons. I don't know when he will be." Genma looked
Kaede straight in the eye. "The boy will doubtless tell you
stories of what we've been up to on the road. There were times when
I had to act without honor, to set up new challenges for us to strive
against. And I'll admit I made some mistakes." Hopefully that
would cover his rear, if Ranma ever told this girl about the Cat-Fist.
"But I did what I did to present the Art with my son, and to
give the Art to him. Someday he will understand."

Despite his frustrations, Ranma only practiced for a short while
before breaking it off, his stomach reminding him in no uncertain
terms that lunch time had already passed. Kaede found him in the
kitchen, attending to a wide variety of leftovers.

Ranma grunted on seeing her, swallowing a mouthful of rice. "So
how'd it go? You want any help beatin' up the old fool, or did ya
already take care of that?"

Kaede sighed, shaking her head. "I can't say I'm happy about
it, Ranma, but I guess I can understand his reasons. Besides, kicking
my future father-in-law's butt probably isn't the best way to start
things off."

"That must've been some story he told you," Ranma commented
sourly.

His newest fiancée frowned slightly. Ranma's lack of respect
for his father was beginning to grate on her. Especially considering
how skilled he'd become under Genma's training. "He said that
he arranged so many fiancées so there'd be a wide field to
pick the best from, once we were all grown up. What if he HAD stopped
with one, and the girl turned out to be some prissy little princess
without any real drive or talent for the Art? Where would that leave
you, huh, Saotome? Genma may've been pretty underhanded about it,
but at least he made sure that wouldn't happen. The girl you'll
end up with is the girl who's proved she can keep up with you, who
can add the most to the Anything Goes style." The determined
cast to her jaw made it quite clear whom Kaede intended this to
be.

Ranma chuckled grimly. "That's what he told you the reason
was, huh?"

"Yes, it is." True to her word, Kaede didn't bring up
the part about creating new challenges for Ranma. "That's why
I said I wasn't happy, to find out I still had a ways to go, and
things to prove, but I understand where he's coming from."

The Saotome heir hesitated for a moment. Should he bust the old
panda right now? It wouldn't be too hard to force Genma to admit
he'd fed this girl a line of bull. Just get Soun in the same room,
and his father wouldn't be able to keep up that 'I'll give Ranma
to the best girl' line for long.

Then he decided not to bother. His newest fiancée didn't seem particularly
eager to listen to what he had to say. Let her figure it out for
herself. With the way Genma was always pushing him toward Akane,
Kaede would catch on to the truth soon enough.

Meanwhile, she was speaking again. "So… you want to fill
me in on my competition, Ranma?"

"Huh? Whatcha mean by that?"

She tsked impatiently. "The other girls. You said you had
three other fiancées… Oh, wait, one of them dropped out
though, right? That's what Genma said. So tell me about the other
two."

"Other three. I also got one that didn't have anything to
do with Genma."

Kaede paled slightly. A fiancée that hadn't been arranged by Genma…
was this girl someone Ranma himself had picked out? "Who's
that? And what right does she think she has to someone who's already
got legitimate fiancées?"

Ranma gave another of those grim chuckles. "If ya asked her,
she'd say it was you girls who were poaching on somebody who's already
taken. Accordin' to her laws, she and I are actually married."
He paused, waiting for a comment from Kaede. When she just stood
there blinking, he went on, "Her name's Shampoo, and she's
from this crazy tribe of Chinese Amazons."

One last blink, and then Kaede breathed a loud sigh of annoyance.
"That old myth?! Don't tell me you actually believed her."

"Ah… huh?" Ranma asked, his train of thought momentarily
derailed.

"Oh, sure, I've heard the rumors too, about a secret society
of warrior women hidden deep within the wilds of China. Called the
Joketsuzu or something like that, supposed to have really powerful
secret techniques. Makes for an entertaining story, Ranma, but that's
all it is. Please don't tell me you had some Chinese chick come
onto you pretending to be an actual, honest-to-goodness Amazon,
and you believed it."

"Not exactly," Ranma said dryly. "More like Pop
and me visited that 'mythical' village." Kaede grimaced, plainly
unconvinced, and opened her mouth to protest. Ranma continued speaking
before she could. "Look, I know it's crazy, but it's true.
Just stop by the Cat Café restaurant here in Nerima some time and
you'll find three of them: Shampoo, my so-called 'wife', a really
annoying guy named Mousse, and a three-hundred-year-old dried-up
mummy of an Amazon elder, who's got enough special techniques up
her sleeve to kick any three of my rivals' butts at the same time."

"So those stories are actually true?" There was still
a note of skepticism in Kaede's voice, but it was lessening now.
She reminded herself that the little matter of Ranma's Jusenkyo
curse had already established that her fiancé had gone farther off
the beaten path and seen stranger stuff than she had. "These
Amazons are supposed to be fierce, skilled warriors from what I've
heard. What’s this 'Shampoo' like?"

Ranma shrugged. "She's the strongest fighter out of my fiancées,
that's for sure." He missed the way Kaede's eyes narrowed as
he said this. "And yeah, her whole culture pretty much revolves
around being strong warriors. The girls even have ta marry any guy
from outside their tribe who defeats them in battle. You know, to
get his skill and strength added into the village."

"Is that what happened to you?" Kaede asked.

"More or less," Ranma grumbled.

It didn't look to Kaede like he really wanted to pursue the subject
any further, which was fine by her. "Hmm… well, tell me about
the other two. The ones Genma arranged."

He shrugged. "Okay. One of 'em just got back to Nerima a little
before you showed up. This's the second time around for her. Her
name's Kaori Daikoku, and she came by once before to try and press
her claim, but then she gave up and left. She practices the Martial
Arts Takeout style."

"One of those people who stick with a weird minor discipline.
Gotcha." And if this girl had given up once before, Kaede didn't
think it would be all that hard to see that she did so again.

"She's pretty good with it, but yeah, she doesn't have anything
like our experience," Ranma said. "Still, she was good
enough to nearly win a Martial Arts Takeout Race, even against other
people fightin' with different styles. Losin' that was why she had
to leave the first time."

"What, did she bet her engagement on it?"

"Not exactly. She challenged Akane, that's my other fiancée,
to the race, and said that if she lost she'd go away and leave me
here." He snorted. "But she never did say she'd be gone
forever."

"Sneaky," Kaede said with grudging approval, mixed with
annoyance that apparently this other girl hadn't really given up
in the first place. Still, she was confident that her skills would
be enough to bury a rival who limited herself to something as silly
as Martial Arts Takeout. "So what about Akane?"

"Akane Tendo, daughter of my old man's best friend, and heir
to the Tendo school of Anything Goes."

She interrupted him before he could say more. "Tendo
school… of Anything Goes?! Isn't this the Tendo dojo?"
That was what she thought she remembered glimpsing on the sign out
front when she and Ranma came in. "And you and your father
are staying here?"

"Yep. Like I said, Pop and Mr. Tendo are old training buddies.
The engagement deal there is to unite the branches of the Anything
Goes school, an' have Akane and me take over the dojo."

Kaede was now fighting a grim feeling of trepidation. 'An heir
to another branch of the Anything Goes school?! Someone else of
Ranma's caliber?! How can I compete with that… wait,' now
confusion added its voice to the din of conflicting emotions, 'Ranma
said Shampoo was the best fighter out of his fiancées…'

"Kasumi, are you in here…?" Akane's voice trailed off
as she entered the kitchen and took a good long look at the sight
before her. Her mouth thinned into a hard line, before she asked,
"Ranma? Who's this?"

"Hey, Akane," Ranma said in a tired voice. "Meet
Kaede Hayashibara, newest fiancée arranged for me by my old man."

Kaede took a long, critical look, analyzing the sight before her.
Akane was standing ramrod straight, her fists balled up at her sides,
a scowl on her face, and a battle aura flickering around her. "You're
Akane? Ranma's fiancée Akane Tendo? As in the heir to the
Tendo school of Anything Goes?"

"That's right!" Akane declared, turning the full force
of her glare onto Kaede. "You have a problem with that?!"

Another long moment of silence, as Kaede gave her a second searching
stare. Recognizing the burning quality in her battle aura that spoke
of unpolished talent and lack of control. Checking out the youngest
Tendo's pretty, impractical-for-combat outfit. Considering her cute
haircut and the light makeup she was wearing. Noting the lack of
calluses on Akane's hands, and the hint of baby fat she still carried.
Remembering the way she'd moved as she first entered the kitchen,
and looking at her stance now, neither of which had shown the centered,
deliberate grace Kaede or Ranma carried as second nature.

Kaede got to her feet, a hard smile in place. She walked over and
gave Akane a condescending pat on the shoulder. "No, Princess,
I don't have any problem with it at ALL." She turned and waved
to Ranma. "See you around, Saotome."

It hadn't taken her long to get directions to the Cat Café. Not
long after leaving the Tendo home, Kaede approached the Amazon stronghold,
stopping a few steps away and examining it. It seemed like a nice
enough place. She could see through the main window that there were
plenty of customers inside, more than she would have expected for
this time of day. Whatever else was true about this place, the food
must be pretty good.

A thought which reminded her that she hadn't had lunch yet. After
spending a few more minutes scrutinizing the building, Kaede went
inside.

On entering the restaurant, she was met by a tall Chinese boy with
white robes, long black hair, and glasses pushed up on top of his
forehead. "Welcome to the Cat Café," he said, sounding
a little harried and frazzled to Kaede. "How many in your party?"

"Just one," Kaede said, wondering idly whether he'd wanted
to know if anyone would be joining her later, or if he just hadn't
been sure how many people he was talking to now. Judging from the
way he was facing the ornamental dragon statue off to her side,
she suspected the latter.

"Right this way." Mousse turned and led Kaede to a nearby
table, pulling out a chair for her and producing a menu from his
sleeve. "Would you care to hear today's specials?"

"Actually, let's start by you putting me at a different table.
One that doesn't already have anybody seated at it,"
Kaede said dryly, regarding the snickering couple on the other side
of the table. "I don't think these two want me barging in on
their fun."

Mousse winced and pulled his glasses down into position. "Ah,
right." He led Kaede over to an unoccupied table. She seated
herself and opened the menu, glancing at the prices. Quite reasonable,
if the food was as good as the number of customers would indicate.
Kaede ordered tea and a small mushroom ramen, and watched the waiter
scurry back to the kitchen. Once he'd relayed her order, he cleared
the dishes off a recently vacated table (Kaede blinked as the plates
and bowls just seemed to vanish into his robe), returned to the
front of the restaurant, and resumed watching the door for new arrivals.

'If I had to guess, I'd say that was probably who Ranma meant
by a 'really annoying guy named Mousse',' Kaede mused. She noted
that he had already pushed his glasses back on top of his forehead.
'Seems like a waste. He looks like he's a pretty good martial
artist, from the way he moves. And that trick with the dishes was
impressive. But if he won't keep those things on his face, he might
as well pack it up and go back to China.'

She turned her attention to the main body of the restaurant, looking
around for the mysterious Shampoo. Presumably the girl would come
out of the kitchen to deliver her order of ramen, at least.

No sooner had Kaede finished the thought than she nearly swallowed
her tongue. A small bowl of ramen came flying through the window
connecting the dining room with the kitchen, spinning through the
air and landing on the table before her. The bowl rocked its way
through a few revolutions before settling down. Through all this,
the ramen inside barely stirred.

Kaede just sat there and stared for a few seconds, her reverie
broken only by the arrival of a teapot, cup, and saucer. She gulped,
then reached out and tapped the side of the teapot. Aside from the
heat, she could just barely make out the fading remnants of some
sort of chi charge. An experimental poke with a chopstick confirmed
that the ramen broth was indeed a liquid, not the near-solid gelatinous
mass that common sense insisted it would have had to be to have
survived its flight without spilling.

As a martial artist, she had learned that sometimes common sense
needs to take a ride in the back seat. Without further ado, Kaede
tucked into her meal.

Just as she was popping the last bite of noodles into her mouth,
she heard the boy at the doorway say "Welcome to the Cat…
Shampoo!!" She whipped her head around. As she took in the
sight thus revealed, Kaede's features arranged themselves into a
curious mixture of a smirk and a frown.

The newcomer stood in the doorway, regarding her greeter with a
scowl of resigned annoyance that did nothing to mar the beauty of
her face. Her arms were folded crossly beneath an impressive bosom.
Her purple hair was long and lustrous. Her skin had the beauty of
porcelain, except where a faint flush had pinkened her cheeks. Her
eyes were large and thickly lashed, and appeared crimson as far
as Kaede could tell at this distance. Presumably the girl preferred
contact lenses to spectacles.

'Another beauty queen pretending to be a martial artist.
And this is the girl that's the strongest fighter out of them all?
Maybe I shouldn't even bother looking up this Kaori person.'
While she was relieved, it could not be said that Kaede was completely
happy at seeing Shampoo's level of beauty. She was under no illusions
when it came to her own looks… 'striking' would be about the best
spin that could reasonably be put on them. She might wish nature
had been a little more generous there, but the facts were otherwise,
and she hadn't ever seen much point in trying to deny it. Far better
to play to one's strengths, which she had done ever since her father
had begun training her in the Art. Those skills were what would
make the difference in this contest, she reminded herself, and also
remembered that Ranma hadn't seemed nervous or excited when he'd
been talking to her about Shampoo.

All the same, that didn't completely quench a feeling of jealousy
at the sight of her competitor's exotic beauty. Kaede turned back
around, picking up her tea and taking a gulp… which she then spewed
out as the vision before her registered.

Cologne spun a chopstick blindingly fast, blocking the liquid before
any of it could splash on her. "Good day, young lady,"
she said dryly, from her typical perch atop her staff. "I don't
mean to be rude, but you have the look of a seasoned martial artist.
Now, that's hardly uncommon in this town, but it also seemed to
me that you were looking at my great-granddaughter with some hostility.
Do you have business with my Shampoo?"

All sorts of warning bells were going off in Kaede's mind now.
"Nothing that can't wait," she said slowly, "but
if you could spare her for the afternoon I'd appreciate it."

The lavender-haired Amazon looked up from clearing dishes off a
table and trotted over. "What you want, Great-Grandmother?"

Kaede had now schooled her features into an impassive expression.
But she no longer had any urge to smile triumphantly.

From this distance, certain details that she hadn't been able to
make out before were all too apparent. Akane's hands had been soft
and smooth, but this girl's were as strong and capable as Kaede's
own. Even in the short distance she'd covered to reach Kaede's table,
it had been obvious that Shampoo moved with the easy grace of a
seasoned warrior. And for all the lush curves the Amazon sported,
Kaede could now clearly see the underlying musculature that spoke
of years of serious training.

Pushing black thoughts of unfairness to the back of her mind, Kaede
spoke. “I’m new in these parts, Shampoo, and I've heard you're the
best female fighter my age around here. I’d like to see how good
you really are."

The empty lot where she had faced Ranma earlier wasn't far off.
It seemed appropriate to Kaede to have this match there as well.
She led the way, keeping her eyes straight ahead, and doing her
best to keep track of her opponent through other senses. This didn't
prove to be a problem. She remained clearly aware of Shampoo's position
relative to her own for the entire walk, which Kaede considered
a hopeful sign; as far as she had seen, the more skilled and experienced
a martial artist was, the more likely she would try to mute her
presence without even thinking about it. Kaede was actually forcing
herself not to do that, and it was making her feel a little awkward.
Still, that should just lead Shampoo to underestimate her.

Shampoo frowned slightly as she followed her challenger. The other
girl seemed to be trying to put a mask over her real skill by moving
a bit awkwardly. No true warrior ought to stoop to such a trick.
And if she did, at least she should have the good sense to do it
from the very beginning, not start out moving normally and then
switch tactics.

When they reached the empty lot, Shampoo noticed, with some trepidation,
that apparently a fire hydrant had burst here not too long ago.
The hydrant itself had been capped off, and there was a fairly large
quantity of mud. No puddles as far as she could see, though. As
long as the hydrant didn't blow again, she shouldn't have to worry
about random transformation. Still, it was annoying… normally
if Shampoo had good reason to expect a fight, she bathed with waterproof
soap beforehand. Of course, most fights in Nerima that involved
her happened unexpectedly, but Shampoo had at least thought that
the Japanese custom of sending a challenge letter ahead of time
would be enough to keep her curse from making a difference in a
formal match.

"Thought Japanese way was to send letter, not just show up
and challenge," the Amazon remarked irritatedly as Kaede moved
to the center of the lot and turned to face her.

The girl in question rolled her eyes. "Jeez, first Ranma,
then you. Is EVERYBODY in Nerima that formal all the time?!"

Shampoo's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What business you have
with Airen, outsider girl?"

Kaede hadn't actually intended to reveal her motives just yet.
She muttered something unpleasant, then spoke louder. "Your
so-called 'husband' is my fiancé, Shampoo. Arranged by his
dad and mine when we were young."

"ANOTHER one?!" Shampoo yelled incredulously. "Shampoo
not BELIEVE this!! First he make stupid promises to get other girls
for Airen, then he give stupid training that make husband afraid
of Shampoo! How could idiot panda father cause so much trouble for
me by accident?!"

That snapped Shampoo's attention back to the present right speedily.
"Is not your concern, obstacle girl," she said, menace
thick in her words. "I guess this not just the random challenge
you say it was before. Is so?"

Kaede inclined her head. "Ranma said you were the best fighter
out of his fiancées. I'm guessing that's why the question
of who gets him hasn't ever been settled… because the strongest
one didn't have a legitimate claim." She matched Shampoo's
glare. "I have an honor-bound promise between Ranma's father
and mine, that Ranma and I should be married. Genma told me that
the girl who showed she could give the most to the Anything Goes
school would be the one who ended up with Ranma. I'm going to show
that that's me."

"Then you is living in dream world," Shampoo said disgustedly.
"Two reasons why. You think Ranma's father support anybody
other than stupid violent weakling daughter of his best friend?
You blind and stupid. But Shampoo already know that…" she
pulled out her bonbori maces and gave them a twirl, "…because
you say you will defeat me."

"We'll see," Kaede said, doing her best to hide the fact
that the sudden appearance of the weapons (far too large for Shampoo
to have concealed them in any way that Kaede understood) had chipped
a piece out of her confidence. "Anyway, enough talking. I came
here to fight. The match is to knockout or surrender, Shampoo."

The lavender-haired girl smiled menacingly. "Amazons never
surrender. Be glad to give you knockout, though."

The fight was short. And perhaps more brutal than it might have
been.

Kaede came in hard and fast, trusting in her speed and flexibility
to get past the maces. With Shampoo's build, it seemed like her
best bet—the Chinese girl was clearly more oriented toward strength
and endurance than speed. Trying to outlast her didn't strike Kaede
as a good idea at all. And so she struck with all the speed she
could muster, aiming her right hand in a knife strike toward a particular
nerve cluster in Shampoo's elbow, while with her left hand pulling
out one of the emergency tonfa she kept strapped to her upper legs.

None of which past the 'trusting in her speed' part mattered. Shampoo
spun one bonbori, striking Kaede in the right forearm, destroying
that attack completely, then curving the weapon's path to impact
on the other girl's upper leg. With her other mace she knocked aside
her opponent's blow with the tonfa, continuing the strike to land
her weapon solidly in the Japanese girl's stomach. The only benefit
Kaede received from her strategy was that Shampoo had to invoke
the Amaguriken and sacrifice some strength for speed. Kaede's arm
and leg weren't broken, and the blow to her stomach just knocked
the wind out of her, sending her to her knees retching and gasping
for breath. Considering that Shampoo was easily capable of shattering
a full-grown tree with one bonbori swing, she got off lucky.

Not that Kaede felt particularly lucky just now. In fact, she didn't
feel much of anything other than the pain.

Shampoo backed away and lowered her bonbori, as it was dishonorable
in the extreme to strike a defeated foe. "You give up, outsider
girl?" she asked, once it looked like Kaede had recovered enough
to notice the question.

Kaede gritted her teeth, and nodded. With an arm out of commission,
a leg not far from it, and feelings of nausea still lurking in the
pit of her stomach, there was no way she'd be able to win at this
point. "You win this time," she forced out. The quickness
and ease with which it had happened hurt almost more than the physical
pain. "But I wonder what would've happened if you'd fought
me without those goddamn maces."

"You mean, if you had weapon and Shampoo did not?" the
Amazon asked ironically. "Anyway, you lose. You leave Ranma
to me."

"The HELL I will!" Kaede snapped, pride forcing her back
to her feet. She was careful not to assume anything that could be
mistaken for a combat stance, though.

Shampoo's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You challenge me to
show who is better one for Ranma," she growled. "You say
this own self. And Shampoo show it is same one it has been all along.
You lose fight when he is stakes, so you give up, go away, and not
try get your claws on my Airen."

"Screw that," Kaede retorted. "I never said I was
betting my status as Ranma's fiancée on this match. I didn't say
you had to leave if you lost either, did I?"

There was a long moment of silence as the two girls faced each
other. Shampoo broke it at last, returning her bonbori to storage.
"Up until now, Shampoo have treat you as honorable opponent.
You showing now you not have honor after all. But I give you one
more chance." Kaede's eyes bugged out and her breath caught
in her throat as Shampoo produced a new weapon. The Amazon ran one
finger along the razor edge of the scimitar, then said, "Shampoo
not here to split cat hairs about just what words you say. You challenge
to show which of us is better for Ranma, we fight, you lose. So
swear now on all you honor to go away and leave Ranma alone. Or
Shampoo use this."

Kaede stared desperately into Shampoo's eyes, looking for something,
anything that would indicate the Chinese girl was bluffing. She
saw nothing there but steely determination, which was appropriate
enough. Shampoo had every intention of following through on her
threat if Kaede didn't acquiesce.

Although the Amazon didn't see any need to explain just how
she would be using the sword. Better to let the other girl draw
her own conclusions. Given how short her hair was, she might not
even care if Shampoo cut off the rest of it.

'She really does mean it,' Kaede thought desperately, and
with undertones of a less familiar emotion. Namely, despair. 'I
can't just lose like this… not now… but what can I do?…'She
gulped, looking away from the Amazon, searching frantically for
something that would get her out of this.

"SHAMPOO!! Cut it OUT!!" Ranma's cry resounded through
the lot.

Faster than she had moved during the entire match, Shampoo spun
around, hiding the scimitar behind her back as best she could. It
would have been more effective to return it to weaponspace, but
she was a little too flustered to think of that. "Nihao, Airen,"
she said, trying to be chirpy and cheerful and glad to see him and
not at all guilty. "You come to see Shampoo?"

"I don't believe this!" Ranma yelled. "I thought
better of you than this, Shampoo! What were you gonna do if I didn't
show up just now, huh?!"

"Sounded to me like if I didn't give up on you and leave town,
she was going to cut my head off," Kaede said helpfully. She
had used the opportunity to get well away from Shampoo, and was
now standing much closer to Ranma. He wouldn't have any trouble
getting between the two of them if Shampoo charged.

"Is not so!" the Amazon in question bristled.

"Then what were ya doing with that sword, Shampoo? Trying
to scare her off?" He hoped that was it. Now that the first
shock of seeing her with the sword drawn had faded, Ranma was pretty
much willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, Shampoo
had been here in Nerima for nearly a year now without hurting anybody.

"That right!" The Amazon nodded her head vigorously.
"Would have let her go without hurting her if she too, too
stubborn to give up."

"Is not so!" Shampoo returned, but her voice faltered
halfway through as she realized just what she was saying. She had
just meant to issue another denial of ever intending to hurt her
opponent, and hadn't paid close enough attention to what Kaede was
saying. As a result, her words came out uncertain and unconvincing
enough that even Ranma noticed.

"You sure about that, Shampoo?" he asked sternly. "Don't
sound like it to me, all of a sudden."

"Who you believe, Airen?" she asked, regaining some poise.
"Stupid new girl who just show up now, or Shampoo who you know
for so long?"

"Seein' as how when I first met you, you were trying to track
down and kill my girl half, maybe I oughta listen to Kaede,"
Ranma snapped.

Shampoo flinched back. "That not fair, Airen," she said
miserably. "Shampoo break that law for you, after you lie to
her and say you really girl."

Ranma sighed. "Look, just tell me straight, Shampoo. Were
you or were you not gonna use that sword if Kaede didn't agree to
what you said?"

The Amazon hung her head for a moment, then drew herself up to
her full height. Pride was in her voice, but her eyes showed mostly
pain, as she answered. "She challenge me to fight. Say battle
was to show who of us was best for you. I win fight, tell her she
now go away and leave you alone. She say no, go back on what she
say fight was for in first place. Act without honor. So Shampoo
would treat her in Amazon way for opponent what have no honor. For
woman, that mean shave head. That is what sword would be for. Not
hurt, just show mark of shame. And thank Ranma so much for believing
in Shampoo."

Being responsible sucked.

That was the general trend of Ranma's thoughts, as he walked down
an alley toward the Cat Café. After Shampoo had left, he'd talked
with Kaede a little more. The conversation hadn't lasted long, Kaede's
loss having left her in no good mood, but it had been enough to
give him a pretty good handle on where the misunderstanding had
occurred. Shortly thereafter a nagging thought had come to mind…
namely, that someone really ought to go talk to Shampoo and make
her understand too. Maybe seeing where she'd messed up would make
her more careful about jumping to conclusions in the future.

Yeah, right, Ranma thought cynically, and maybe Mousse would stop
attacking him to try to free Shampoo from his evil clutches. Nothing
ever changed around here… the thought of Ukyo crossed his mind,
and he amended the thought to 'nothing ever changed for the better'.
Still, his conscience had eventually worn down his reluctance; one
thing Genma had always stressed while Ranma was growing up was the
importance of fulfilling one's duty, and even after he had realized
that his father didn't practice what he preached the notion had
still stuck fairly well. So now he was walking through the twilight
on his way to the local outpost of Amazon territory, wishing that
he could have at least kept from hurting Shampoo's feelings earlier
this afternoon. Hopefully she'd be in a better mood by now, though…

"Ranma, for hurting Shampoo, I'll kill you!"

The pigtailed martial artist sighed, whipping around and preparing
to dodge if Mousse was actually wearing his glasses. He was, this
time, but the dim light of evening was apparently affecting his
aim. The chains he shot out went to either side of Ranma rather
than on an intercept course. The Saotome heir heard a clanging sound
behind him as the spiked weights on the ends of the chains bounced
off the sides of the alley, collided with each other, and got tangled
up.

"Nice try, Mousse. If you were aiming to punish those walls,
anyway," Ranma said sarcastically. "So how's it going?"

Mousse didn't bother responding verbally, instead pulling his arms
back toward his chest and across each other, each fist coming to
rest on the opposite shoulder. The chains leading from his sleeves
mimicked the motion, closing in on Ranma while the spiked weights
at the end shot toward his back.

A quick leap backward sent him into the air before the chains could
tangle him. The spiked weights shot under his feet while he was
still airborne; a second later he had landed and was charging forward.
Mousse cursed mentally and let the chains fall out of his sleeves,
hastily grabbing a handful of daggers and throwing them. The myopic
martial artist didn't have time to aim, and settled for throwing
the knives wildly. Ranma easily deflected the few that came his
way.

And then he had closed the distance to his target. Just for variety,
Ranma lashed out with a series of kicks this time—he usually finished
Shampoo's stubborn suitor off with a punch—striking several vulnerable
spots and ending with a sweeping blow to Mousse's temple. The Chinese
boy crashed to the ground, not quite unconscious, but nowhere near
in full command of his facilities.

The fight (if it could even be called that) hadn't really lasted
long enough to work out any of Ranma's stress. He actually paused
a block further on, glancing around hopefully. Nope, no Ryoga charging
out of nowhere. He sighed and continued, turning a corner a few
minutes later and coming within sight of the Cat Café.

More importantly, he also saw Shampoo. She was in the alley where
Cologne had first demonstrated the Chestnut Fist to him. Ironically
enough, she was performing that very move, pummeling a post with
blows too quick to be seen. Her mouth was set in a grim line, and
in her eyes was no hint of the happiness that had been there during
her morning practice.

Ranma stopped and stared, knocked farther off-balance at the realization
of her improvement than he really should have been. As Shampoo caught
sight of him, he pushed his surprise to the back of his mind.

"Ranma." She spoke just the one word and fell silent,
looking at him with hurt still evident in her gaze.

"Hey, Shampoo." He paused, trying to think what to say
next, and hoping she would break the silence. No such luck; the
Amazon just stood there, regarding him through the fading light.

At last he couldn't take it any more. "Look… I'm sorry.
You were right. I shouldn't've brought that up. I didn't want to
hurt your feelings or nothing."

"When Shampoo first come here, I fight with Akane," the
lavender-haired girl said quietly. "Gave her Kiss of Death.
Is not real Kiss though, because she never defeat me. Just did as
threat, to show her Shampoo not happy with way she interfere and
also make her know I not keep on taking it. She not even stop to
think, just jump to fight with Shampoo. We go off with nobody else
around to see what happen, at least Shampoo not realize pig was
stupid lost boy Ryoga at time. Did I hurt her?"

Ranma grimaced, shaking his head. "No, but…"

"Is no 'but'! Not even hit her at all. Use technique that
do no damage. She less nice to you every single time Shampoo ever
see you two together! And then, you lie to me and say you is really
woman." Shampoo blinked back tears. "Shampoo throw law
away for you and go back alone to China to get punished. Is no way
for daughter of family of Matriarch to get away with disrespect
for law. Shampoo know this, and still not hurt you, not hurt anyone.
Not hurt anyone whole time Ranma know me. And you still not ready
to believe in me? What I have to do?!"

"Look, that is NOT how it is!" Ranma declared, fighting
the impulse to squirm. "I was ready to believe it when ya said
you were just trying to scare Kaede. Only reason I got doubtful
again was when YOU started sounding all guilty and unsure!"
Shampoo's only response was to sniffle and look down. "Come
on, Shampoo… I didn't want to hurt your feelings or nothing. I’m
sorry!"

"Ranma say that to make Shampoo feel better, or own self?"
she asked, still looking away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked helplessly.

"Just what it sound like. Want to know whether Ranma apologize
because he think he ought to, or because he really care if Shampoo
hurting."

"I said I was sorry, Shampoo. And I meant it. I really didn't
want to make you feel bad." Ranma wracked his brain, trying
to come up with something that would convince her. "Tell you
what—I'll do something to make it up to you." That ought to
show her he was sincere, he thought. And then, too late as usual,
his common sense spoke up, reminding him just what that promise
would likely entail.

"Ranma mean it?" Shampoo asked hopefully, before he could
think of a way to qualify that statement that wouldn't defeat its
purpose. "Would take Shampoo on date to make me feel better?"

With a mental sigh, Ranma nodded his head. Oh well, he'd lived
through dates with Shampoo before. It would probably get him in
hot water with Akane, but that happened pretty regularly anyway.
He wasn't looking forward to sitting through some dull romantic
chick flick, though.

Shampoo smiled, which at least made him feel a little better. "Thank
you, Airen. Tell you what… has usually been Shampoo who picks
out where to go on dates. This time is your turn. You decide what
we do." Watching his face light up made her smile grow a little
wider, and also made her feel an unmistakable urge to kick herself.
Great-Grandmother's advice about letting Ranma set the pace for
time they spent together was obviously dead on target. She should
have thought of it for herself a long time ago, no matter what those
stupid shojo manga she'd read for research on Japanese dating customs
had said!

"Thanks, Shampoo. How about we hit the newest Jackie Chan
movie?"

"Sound good to me. It open next Wednesday, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but tickets are probably gonna be pretty hard
to come by those first few days. We could go on the weekend."

"Wouldn't Airen rather see it on opening night?" Not
to mention Shampoo didn't want to wait a whole week for her date.
"I ask Great-Grandmother to get tickets for us. Shampoo bet
it won't be a problem."

"Well, okay, if that works out it's fine with me." It
would be kinda cool to see it on the first night it came out. He
hesitated, then said, "There was something else I needed to
talk to you about, Shampoo."

"What is?" she asked, her expression shifting into a
more serious look at his tone.

"It's about Kaede." Ranma took a deep breath, hoping
against hope he could get through this without making any more mistakes.
If he hurt her feelings again he might find himself dragooned into
two dates for the price of one. "You really didn't understand
just what she meant by challenging you."

"Think so?" Shampoo snorted. "What is not to understand?
Shampoo already tell you what happen… she challenge to fight to
prove who is better wife for you. I defeat her. She turn around,
say she not going to give up even after she lose."

"Look, it ain't that simple. Somehow, Kaede's got it through
her head that I'm gonna marry whichever girl my old man thinks is
the best one." He shook his head, his face taking on an expression
of mingled irritation and disgust at the thought. "She wanted
to prove herself to him, which is why she challenged you. If she'd
won, she wasn't going to try and tell you to pack it in and leave."

Shampoo blinked in surprise, thinking back now to something Kaede
had said before their fight. "She really think that? That is
all up to stupid panda father, not Ranma's own choice? How can anybody
be so stupid?"

"Give the poor girl a break, Shampoo. She's only been here
one day," Ranma said, though privately he felt a little inclined
to agree. "Besides, maybe she grew up with a father where listening
to him didn't get her in trouble."

Kaede's reverie was broken by the arrival of a waitress. She accepted
the pot of tea, indicated that she didn't wish to order anything
else just now, and poured out a cupful. This was done much more
slowly and carefully than usual; it had been less than twenty-four
hours since her fight with Shampoo, and the bruises she'd picked
up then hadn't really begun to fade. With some effort, she succeeded
in filling the cup without spilling any tea.

Rather than taking a drink, though, she just sat there, hands curled
around the teacup, not really feeling the heat from the liquid inside.
Her thoughts had already shifted back to events taking place elsewhere.

'Wonder how things are going with Dad? I couldn't even tell
for sure how he was feeling last night. Is he angry with what Genma's
done? What's he going to say to him, anyway?' Kaede tried to
imagine the scene. Her father would have long since reached the
Tendo dojo… had he and Genma settled things already, or were they
still talking? 'Heh, talking… as if I don't know Dad better
than that. No matter what else they may have to say to each
other, there's no way in the world he's not going to ask Genma for
a rematch.'

She mused for a while on that subject, but it could only hold her
attention so long. Eventually a less pleasant one forced its way
back to the forefront of her mind.

'I couldn't even touch her.' It was a bitter pill indeed.
'I've beaten plenty of people stronger than me. But until I came
here I never found someone my own age who was stronger AND faster.'
Her mouth quirked into a bitter grin as she remembered actually
being pleased to discover that was the case with Ranma. Someone
who could challenge her like that, give her a new level of mastery
toward which to strive… it was a great quality in a fiancé,
as far she was concerned.

Not so great, however, in someone with whom she was competing for
said fiancé. The fight had been short, but it had lasted more than
long enough for Kaede to see that Shampoo was out of her current
league. Those maces had been very heavy—Kaede had the bruises to
prove it—but her adversary had swung them effortlessly, moving them
too quickly to even be seen.

Kaede had considered the thought of challenging Shampoo to a rematch
and specifically stating unarmed combat. Shampoo would still be
faster than her, and at LEAST twice as strong, but if she was too
dependent on her weapons the loss of them might be enough for Kaede
to pull off a win anyway. Kaede had also thought of a couple of
other scenarios that might allow her to win, mostly dealing with
her choosing a specialized location for the fight, but all of these
ideas had the same basic problem. Namely, she would be winning by
handicapping her opponent. Somehow, Kaede didn't think that proving
she could be sneakier and more underhanded than her opposition would
show she was the one who would be the best choice to help carry
on the Saotome Anything Goes school.

No, she needed a legitimate win. More than that, she needed to
be able to win regularly. And Kaede was frankly unsure as to how
to bring this about. Throw herself into her regular training regimen,
while upping the intensity to the absolute maximum she could handle?
Try to build her strength and speed more quickly than Shampoo was
doing, in order to narrow the gap between them?

'Or I could save myself a lot of trouble and just give up,'
Kaede thought sarcastically. "No way in hell."

"Oh, good, the seat's not taken. I'll join you then."

Ranma's newest fiancée blinked her way back to reality. Another
girl had just slid into the booth with her, sitting down now on
the opposite side of the table. The newcomer had brown hair cut
short in a pageboy style, with large brown eyes and a smirk that
looked to Kaede like it seldom left her face. "And you are?"

"Nabiki Tendo, at your service. Your father wanted someone
to tell you that he was going to be late getting back to the hotel."

"Why's that?" Kaede asked.

Nabiki's smile faded a little, as she thought back to what she'd
recently seen. "They talked for a while, and then he decided
to challenge Mr. Saotome to a match. It was pretty impressive, if
I do say so myself." She was almost sure Genma didn't use that
level of skill when he sparred with Ranma in the mornings. "Mr.
Saotome eventually pulled out a win. Close match, though."

"So I'm guessing he and Dad went to a bar to celebrate, right?"
That was what her father usually used as the stakes when he'd challenge
a master to a battle. Loser bought the drinks afterward. When Kaede
was thirteen, she had asked him why he did it, as these were the
only times she ever saw him drink. He'd told her that it was because
that tactic ensured there were no hard feelings afterward, no matter
who won. Her father had turned an amusing shade of red the next
day when she challenged a dojo's top student and made that offer
herself.

"Okay. Thanks for telling me." Kaede picked up her tea,
wincing as she moved a little too quickly. She managed to keep from
spilling any, though, and took a drink.

"Not feeling so good after your fights yesterday?" Nabiki
inquired.

"No," Kaede growled in a tone that made it quite plain
she didn't want to talk about it.

"You got off easy, you know," Nabiki remarked. "I
heard from Ranma about that stunt you pulled when you fought him.
Disguising yourself as a boy so he wouldn't hold back?" The
middle Tendo snorted. "I say, if a guy's stupid enough to fight
below his level because he's facing a girl, the smart thing to do
is take advantage of it. If he wants to be a male chauvinist, fine,
but make him hurt for it."

"I wanted to know how good he was. NOT whether I could pull
off some kind of sneaky victory by hitting him in his weak spots,"
Kaede replied.

"Hmm. Well, maybe that wouldn't be the best way to start things
out with the future love of your life," Nabiki conceded.

"It isn't just that," Kaede retorted, annoyed at the
other girl's flippant tone. And where did she think she got off
setting herself up as an authority anyway? It was obvious that she
was no martial artist. "This is one of those things where if
you can't win honestly, winning doesn't mean a thing. Losing to
Shampoo sucked, all right, but that doesn't mean I'm going to come
back at her with some underhanded tactic to win. Any more than I'd
do that with Ranma."

The smile was gone completely now from Nabiki's face. "Don't
tell me you're planning to challenge her again?!"

"When I think I've got a chance to beat her, you better believe
I am!"

"Even after what Ranma…" Nabiki's voice trailed off
and she assumed a pained expression. "He didn't tell you, did
he."

"Didn't tell me what?"

"Yesterday afternoon, Ranma realized there was something fairly
important about Shampoo you needed to know, before you got any crazy
ideas about running off and challenging her. His words, not mine,"
Nabiki added, as Kaede glared at her.

"So that's how he managed to show up just then? He was looking
for me?" Nabiki nodded, and Kaede continued. "Guess the
sight of Shampoo pointing a sword in my face kinda made him forget
whatever he was going to say. So what was he supposed to tell me?"

Nabiki glanced over to the front of the cafe, where the various
menu items and their prices were listed on a large board. "You
know, Hayashibara, all this talking, not to mention walking all
the way over here to tell you about your dad, has made me pretty
thirsty. A soda right now could help keep my voice from giving out
completely."

Kaede rolled her eyes, but decided to humor the other girl. Once
Nabiki had been supplied with a soda and had taken a long drink,
the middle Tendo spoke again. "Shampoo's people have some…
interesting… laws about when they're defeated by someone who's
not a member of the tribe."

"But Saotome didn't tell you about an outsider woman who defeats
an Amazon, I take it?" Kaede shook her head. "She gets
a little thing called the Kiss of Death. Namely, a promise by the
defeated Amazon to track her to the ends of the earth, if she has
to… and kill her."

Kaede's face turned pale. "You're kidding me."

"I'm afraid not. When Ranma first defeated Shampoo, he was
in his girl form. She chased him and Mr. Saotome all across China,
and even tracked them to Japan. Pretty impressive, you must admit."

"Impressive? I’ll tell you what's impressive," Kaede's
voice rasped. "It's pretty damn impressive that one person
should have so much going for her. Not to mention UNFAIR AS HELL!"
She slammed her hand down on the table, palm first. The contact
sounded like a rifle shot, and completely covered her involuntary
gasp of pain as she realized, an instant too late, that she had
used the wrong arm for making an impassioned gesture.

"Do go on," Nabiki prompted. Envy of the Amazon was NOT
a reaction she'd been expecting. "What makes you say that?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Kaede hissed through painfully-clenched
teeth. "How am I supposed to beat her now?! I CAN'T!! Even
if I win, I lose!"

"I really don't see why beating her is such a big deal to
you," Nabiki confessed. "If it's just that tired old 'I'm
a martial artist so I have to be better than every other martial
artist in town' thing," without a shred of remorse she tossed
her future brother-in-law to the wolves, "then you should be
focusing on defeating Ranma. After all, he's significantly better
than Shampoo."

"That's not it at all. How am I going to show I'm the best
choice for Ranma, if there's someone I don't even dare compete against?"

"You mean you're worried about Shampoo taking him back to
China with her," Nabiki surmised. "Maybe you should try
to think this through a little more, Hayashibara."

"Just what is that supposed to mean?"

Nabiki gave the long-suffering sigh of one who had to do others'
thinking for them. "Do you really think Ranma is going
to accept Shampoo's offer? How do you think he'd feel twenty years
from now, when some wandering martial artist lady comes strolling
through the backwoods of China, stumbles across their little land
that time forgot, and defeats his daughter? You really think Saotome
is up for joining a society that kills other women for being better
fighters than they are? Ranma's not a very good loser, but that's
taking it a bit far even for him."

Kaede sat there and blinked for a while, turning the points Nabiki
had raised over in her mind. At last she said, "You may have
a point there."

"Humph. Just so you know, Ranma appreciates generosity in
a woman." As long as the matter didn't involve Akane's cooking,
anyway, Nabiki silently amended. "I suppose I could sweeten
the deal, though…"

"Meaning?" Kaede prompted her after a moment of silence.

"You were impressed by how fast Ranma was, correct? And Shampoo
as well?" The previous day she had rescued Ranma before her
irate little sister could express her displeasure at the arrival
of yet another fiancée. As payment for the favor, Nabiki had taken
the opportunity to grill him for information on Kaede's capabilities.
Based on that information, and given what she already knew about
Shampoo, Nabiki would have expected the Amazon to eventually pull
out a narrow, hard-fought victory if she and Kaede fought.

Instead, later in the afternoon she had heard from Ranma that Shampoo
had blown her competition out of the water. In the evening, after
Ranma returned from the Cat Café, she had cornered him again, extracting
the information that Shampoo had learned the Amaguriken. She was
glad she'd found out as early as she did; a development like that
could rip the previous odds to hell and gone in certain types of
fights.

When the other girl nodded, Nabiki said, "Well, I happen to
know that Ranma received advanced speed training from Shampoo's
great-grandmother. Shampoo might have gone through this herself
recently if she seemed unnaturally fast to you."

"And you're offering to tell me how to do this myself? No
offense, but you don't really strike me as having a lot of experience
training someone. What good would it do me to hear some second-hand
account from you anyway?"

"It was simple enough that you wouldn't need anything else
to do it yourself .But if you're not interested…" Nabiki
made as if to get up from the booth.

"Okay, okay, I'll bite," Kaede grumbled. It wasn't like
she couldn't afford a measly order of ice cream, after all.

One banana split and one explanation later, Kaede spoke again.
Well, screeched might be a better word. "You do WHAT?!"

"Dump a double handful of chestnuts into an open fire, then
try to pull them out quickly enough that you don't burn your hands."

Kaede snorted. "That's what I get for asking a normal person."
Nabiki wondered whether she should feel insulted or flattered at
being labeled 'normal'. "Something like that is just not possible
without boosting your speed with chi. And you don't have a clue
how to tell me what I need to know to be able to do that, do you?"

The middle Tendo shrugged, adopting a not-quite-cold expression.
"Cologne didn't tell Ranma anything about that when she showed
him the move. I think it happens automatically. Ask him yourself
if you don't believe me."

"Maybe I will." Or her father might be able to help her.
If possible, it would be nice to master the technique without Ranma's
knowledge and surprise him. "So how many other people around
here know that move?"

"Nobody else ever learned it as far as I know. Just Ranma
and the Amazons."

Not Akane either, then, not that Kaede had thought it likely. That
thought led her to another.

Conversation flagged. Nabiki returned her attention to her ice
cream, but after a minute or so she began to feel a little uncomfortable.
Kaede was openly staring at her, a contemplative look on her face.
"Do I have something on my nose?"

"Huh?"

"Just wondering why you were staring at me, that's all,"
Nabiki said coolly.

"I was thinking. Actually, I was wondering something myself."

"And that would be?"

"Why you're helping me out like this. Isn't your own sister
one of the girls after my fiancé? Shouldn’t you be supporting her?"

The tone of Nabiki's reply dropped the room temperature by several
degrees. "I try to stay neutral in the Saotome Fiancée Scramble,
Hayashibara. And my reasons are just that… mine." 'I love
Akane dearly, but if everyone keeps on handing her things on a silver
platter, she's never going to grow up.'

'Can't believe I'm actually looking forward to this,' Ranma
thought moodily. 'Hah. Ranma Saotome actually glad of an excuse
to get out an' go over school stuff when I don't have to. Bet Nabiki'd
lose a fortune if she'd ever laid bets on that.'

It wasn't due to any real change of heart that he was expecting
to enjoy his upcoming study session with Kaori. The thought of going
over more dull texts, or maybe some dreary meaningless equations,
seemed about as pointless today as ever. However, discomfort was
relative, and right now a legitimate excuse to get out of the Tendo
household for awhile seemed like a pretty good thing to him.

Akane had made it quite clear over the last few days that she wasn't
happy with her fiancé. She hadn't yelled or hit him, though… she'd
just been cold and withdrawn, either ignoring him completely or
giving the impression that as far as she was concerned, he could
go crawl into a hole and die. It was frustrating—he would have much
rather she behaved as she usually did when upset. He could handle
that. He was used to it.

By contrast, Akane had only pulled this kind of stunt once before.
He still wasn't sure why she'd gotten so mad that one time,
when he and Happosai had accidentally destroyed a dish she'd recently
finished cooking. But Akane had dropped straight into morose unhappiness
laced with temper, maintaining the bad mood over the course of a
couple of days. In fact her attitude had worsened over that time,
culminating in the youngest Tendo retreating to the roof and spending
an entire night sulking. Never mind the fact that her action had
caused the entire household a great deal of worry and frenetic activity,
as they spent that night searching the streets of Nerima for her.

She hadn't gone so far this time, at least. 'Huh… maybe it's
cause her old man's upset at me too,' Ranma thought cynically.
'Misery loves company and all that.' It didn't seem fair
to him that the Tendo patriarch should place more blame for recent
developments on him than on his father, but Ranma wasn't really
surprised that it had happened. Not that Soun had been all that
harsh, but the Saotome heir was getting a little tired of the veiled
hints that he ought to have straightened out the fiancée
mess long ago. 'At least Pop's keeping a low profile for now.
We’ll see how long that lasts before he starts giving me grief too.'

And there was one other semi-bright spot. Nabiki had agreed to
keep his upcoming date with Shampoo secret from the rest of the
household. Oh, sure, in exchange for her help she'd extracted an
open-ended promise of a favor from him, to be named and claimed
at her discretion, but the way Ranma looked at it, whatever he ended
up doing as a result was probably something she'd have gotten him
to do anyway. He'd had the presence of mind to stipulate that whatever
the favor was, it couldn't go against his honor, so if she sold
him on a date at least it wouldn't be in girl form to Kuno.

Yes, he was very glad that Akane didn't know he was scheduled to
go on a date with Shampoo the next day. He didn't want to even think
of her reaction if she'd known that. And yet, somehow, he failed
to make the connection between that utterly accurate attitude, and
the fact that he was even now openly heading for a study session
with another fiancée. A study session that would involve
just the two of them, meeting in the privacy of her own home.

It was just too bad that Ranma had never been challenged by any
practitioners of Martial Arts Relationships Skills.

He had just now turned onto a street with many small shops. A few
minutes of walking along this would lead him to the residential
area where Kaori's apartment complex was located. Ranma stopped
and looked into the display window of an electronics store. A glance
at the time displayed on a computer confirmed his impression—he
was early. As he wasn't in any particular hurry to reach his destination,
Ranma turned his attention to another item displayed in the window,
a screen displaying a demo for the latest Final Fantasy game. He
snickered at the hokey pseudo martial arts currently being exhibited
by one of the characters, wondering idly what the people who played
stuff like that would think if they saw him pull off a Hiryu Shoten
Ha.

Another character was taking a turn in the combat now, a magic
user who was blasting away with some water-based attack spell. Ranma
shook his head in mild irritation, and turned to go.

The sun had been peeking through the clouds when he first stopped
to look in the window. The light had faded as he turned his attention
to the game display. And just as the spell reached its climax, the
clouds opened, dropping a brief but effective downpour onto one
pigtailed Jusenkyo-cursed teen.

The newly-redheaded martial artist just stood where she was for
awhile, gritting her teeth and thinking dark thoughts about whatever
kami considered Ranma Saotome his personal plaything. As satisfying
as this was, however, the thought eventually crossed Ranma-chan's
mind that it would be MORE satisfying to walk a few blocks farther
down the street to where there was a restaurant nestled among the
other shops, and get some hot water.

Kaori noted, without much surprise, that after a couple of minutes
the rain ended as abruptly as it had begun. She hadn't been in Nerima
for very long, but she was already familiar with how unpredictable
the weather could be around here.

Which fact had been more inconvenient than usual today. A series
of errands had kept her occupied after school, errands which she
really should have done over the weekend, or at least after school
yesterday. However, spurred on by her Saturday morning conversation
with Ranma, Kaori had taken an impulse weekend trip to visit some
of the friends she'd left behind to come to Nerima. The matter had
also slipped her mind on Monday, and now she was paying the price
for her procrastination. It had taken longer than she'd expected
to take care of everything, and she had been hurrying back to her
apartment, uncomfortably aware that she wasn't going to have as
much time to get ready for Ranma's arrival as she would have liked.
And then the blasted weather had cut that time even further. At
least she had managed to duck inside this restaurant before the
rain had hit, though, Kaori thought to herself. Had she been soaked,
there was no way she'd be able to freshen up before the time Ranma
was supposed to arrive.

As watery sunlight began to stream down in the street again, Kaori
stepped out of the restaurant. She eyed the scattering clouds suspiciously.
Satisfied that for the moment there probably wouldn't be any more
rain, she turned to go.

And then she froze, as something seen out of the corner of one
eye registered. She whipped around to face the other end of the
street. Her hands clenched into fists and her teeth began to grind
together as the initial impression was confirmed. Hair of that particular
shade of red wasn't something she would ever forget. A quick
intake of breath, then Kaori turned, and raced back into the restaurant.

Ranma-chan stopped, blinking in surprise. When she was ten feet
away from the door of the restaurant, it had suddenly slammed open,
and Kaori had come stalking out. The look on her face and the general
tension in her posture were clear indications that she was in no
good mood. A bowl of ramen rested incongruously in one hand.

"Yo, Kaori. What's wrong?" Ranma-chan asked. "You
get bad service in there or something?"

"So you do remember me," the brunette hissed. "I
haven't forgotten you, I can promise you that. You're that
miserable redheaded witch who double-teamed me with Akane Tendo,
back in the Martial Arts Takeout race last year. If it weren't for
you, Ranma and I would have left this place together a long time
ago!"

At which point Ranma-chan remembered she was in her cursed form.
A cursed form that had never been explained to Kaori, who had just
slipped a pair of chopsticks into the bowl of ramen. "Ah, wait
a minute—Yaah!" She skipped to one side as Kaori suddenly flicked
the chopsticks, whipping a long strand of woven noodles free from
the bowl and sending it lashing toward the redhead. "Cut that
out!"

"You think YOU can tell ME what to do?! Guess again! I can't
afford to pay Akane Tendo back like she deserves yet, but you're
going to get what's coming to you!"

Ranma-chan stared, completely at a loss for words, swaying absent-mindedly
from one side to the other as Kaori's noodle-noose lashed out, trying
to reconcile the sight before her with her memories of the past
few weeks. The person he'd thought he had been getting to know,
the calm, collected, friendly girl, had seemingly disappeared, her
place taken by someone who hadn't been seen since the Martial Arts
Takeout race so long ago. A ruthless girl who struck hard, with
neither warning nor mercy. And Ranma-chan was frankly feeling a
bit betrayed.

Meanwhile, Kaori was experiencing frustration. No, more than that;
she was FURIOUS. Here she had before her the girl who was most responsible
for her earlier defeat, the dishonorable little cur who'd blindsided
her and given the victory to Akane Tendo. The girl who hadn't even
entered the race for herself, but had just interfered to aid another
competitor. The girl who bore such a large share of the blame for
the Daikoku family's shame and Kaori's fiancé's suffering.
The girl who by rights ought now to be fighting a desperate losing
battle to keep from getting the beating she so richly deserved.
The girl who wasn't even paying her full attention to the fight,
just staring at Kaori with a stupid blank look of noncomprehension
while evading her strikes effortlessly.

Clearly the noodle offensive wasn't going to work. Kaori decided
she needed to get up close and personal. She whipped the noodles
back into the bowl, then tossed it over her shoulder. It flew through
the air without spilling a drop to land on top of a mailbox five
feet behind her. With her hands now unoccupied, Kaori charged.

Up until this point, Ranma-chan had had some vague idea of stopping
the fight, getting hot water, and revealing to Kaori just who she
was attacking. The Daikoku daughter's change of tactics quickly
rendered that possibility academic. Ranma-chan blinked as the brunette
bore down on her, barely managing to get her guard up in time to
meet the hurricane.

In the Martial Arts Takeout race, Kaori had blown through a mass
of lesser competitors in seconds, striking and kicking her way through
them, disrupting their takeout boxes with ease. She could have defeated
Akane without much more trouble, but had made the mistake of toying
with her instead. Throughout all this, she had kept her own takeout
box perfectly intact. And the chi technique she had used just now,
when she threw the bowl of ramen without spilling any, had not been
the secret of her success then. It would have been far too draining
to sustain it for that length of time. No, for almost all of the
race, Kaori had maintained the integrity of her ramen through sheer
balance, poise, and skill.

And now, without any need to guard a precarious bowl of noodles
and liquid, the full extent of that skill could be allowed to shine.

Flesh cracked on flesh as Ranma-chan hastily blocked Kaori's high
palm strike. Cloth rustled as she twisted, allowing a kick to miss
her by tenths of an inch. With a grunt of effort, Kaori changed
the direction of the kick, twisting to bring her foot rocketing
upward. Her aim was to strike Ranma-chan in the armpit, which would
have hurt like crazy and possibly dislocated her arm. The redhead
was too slippery though, twisting at the waist and causing Kaori's
heel to merely clip her lightly on the shoulder. Simultaneous with
the dodge, Ranma-chan shot one hand out to land her own glancing
blow. There was very little force behind the strike, certainly not
enough to bruise Kaori, but that wasn't the point. The brunette
was already off-balance from the doubly-failed gambit; Ranma-chan's
blow pushed her past the point of recovery. She fell down hard on
her rump.

Before Ranma-chan could issue a suggestion that she give up, Kaori
was back on her feet, glaring more furiously than ever and launching
a blistering series of punches. She was fast, the redhead noted
as she blocked, but not Amaguriken-speed fast… "YEEEOW!"

Ranma-chan stumbled backward, shocked at the ferocious stabs of
pain screaming up from her hands and forearms. Kaori grinned nastily
and flexed her wrists, retracting the chopsticks into her sleeves.
Long ago, before she was even born, her father had heard legends
of a technique wherein the utensils were used to augment one's blocking
abilities. They still weren't sure it was more than a legend; neither
he nor his daughter had ever figured out how to perform such a technique.
However, Kaori had eventually turned the idea one hundred eighty
degrees, adapting it into a countermeasure for an opponent's blocking.
The piercing strike of a chopstick hurt far more and was much harder
to absorb than the blunt impact of a punch.

Quickly, before her opponent could recover and close the hole in
her defenses, Kaori pivoted and drove a foot into Ranma-chan's gut,
knocking the redhead onto the ground. She hesitated then for a fraction
of a second; her style didn't have many attacks that were designed
against someone in that position. If this had been a life-or-death
fight, she would have thrown a couple of razor-sharp sauceriken
projectiles, but while she might despise this mystery girl she had
no intention of painting the street with her blood. She wasn't carrying
any spare chopsticks that could be used for a pinpoint shiatsu strike.
And the ramen bowl was currently out of reach, eliminating the possibility
of a noodle-noose attack.

The moment of hesitation was all Ranma-chan needed. The redhead
rolled backward, bouncing to her feet. Shrugging aside the pain
in her hands, Ranma-chan blasted forward at a greater speed than
she'd used yet. And good though Kaori was, she simply was not fast
enough to handle this. Ranma-chan pushed aside the awkward punch
that was all her opponent could manage, snaked one hand around her
neck, and tapped her Instant Unconsciousness shiatsu point.

Or at least, that had been the idea. Her finger passed through
Kaori's curls and encountered a tightly-woven mat of hair hugging
closely against the nape of her neck, which defeated the strike
entirely.

The Martial Arts Takeout girl smiled grimly. She'd lost one fight
to that technique, not long after her first visit to Nerima, which
was the reason for her change in hairstyle. She had no intention
of ever again losing to such a cheap trick as that. And every intention
of making anyone else who tried it pay in spades.

In the inevitable brief instant of surprise as Ranma-chan realized
her attack had failed, Kaori retaliated. Her position relative to
her opponent made the attack awkward, but she struck as best she
could, blasting a punch into Ranma-chan's chin that knocked the
redhead back several paces.

By now the pigtailed martial artist was nearing the level of unhappiness
with which her opponent had begun the fight. Screw holding back,
screw being a gentleman, she was a girl now and it was OKAY to fight
for real!

Kaori's face set like flint as her redheaded foe growled and dashed
forward on the offensive again. She had hoped that blow would be
enough to knock the fight out of the other girl, or at least slow
her down to a manageable level. One glance at the fury on Ranma-chan's
face had disabused her of that notion. Even as her adversary began
her approach, Kaori was moving as well, backpedaling furiously.
It was nowhere near enough to keep Ranma-chan from closing the distance,
but that wasn't Kaori's intent. She had one trick left in her bag,
one technique that had never failed her.

For an instant, the previous sequence of attacks seemed to be repeating
themselves. Ranma-chan blazed forward, reaching out to push aside
her opponent's feeble resistance… but as she entered Kaori's personal
space, everything changed. Her entire body locked up, sending her
crashing to the ground, eyes wide with shock at the sudden, inexplicable
paralysis.

Kaori stumbled backward, gritting her teeth against the impulse
to fall to her knees. Throwing a takeout box into the air without
spilling the ramen inside was one thing. Extending the stasis technique
over an entire person, even for only a few seconds, was something
completely different. When she was in top condition, it took more
than half her strength to perform the move. Here and now, she didn't
have much left in her reserves.

But she didn't need much either. Her maneuvering of a few seconds
past had left her within easy reaching distance of the previously-abandoned
bowl of ramen. She grabbed it, twirled the noodles back into a cohesive
strand, and sent this snaking forward to wrap around Ranma-chan's
throat.

The redhead choked, pushing through the fading remnants of the
paralysis to fight her way back to her knees and bring her hands
up to the noodles around her neck. Try as she might, though, she
couldn't get anything like a decent grip on the slippery strand.
Her gaze met Kaori's, desperate and angry and betrayed clashing
with stony and grim and determined.

Kaori ignored her opponent's useless struggles, concentrating on
the finesse she needed. Using just enough force to cut off her opponent's
air without actually damaging her throat required a great deal of
focus. She knew there was no way for the redhead to struggle free
of the noose, and so didn't really pay her attempts any attention,
concentrating everything onto her own attack.

And so she was caught completely by surprise when Ranma-chan released
the noose, dropped her hands, pointed her palms upward, and fired
off a blast of chi. The energy severed the noodle-noose with ease,
and then the pigtailed girl was free, coughing and gasping, but
already recovering.

At this point, the phrase 'in over my head' began echoing through
Kaori's mind. She knew a bit of the theory of chi attacks, and was
aware that anyone who could release one that powerful when she was
on her knees struggling for breath could probably blow her away
when she was in better shape. A strong desire to run warred with
her natural pride as a martial artist, which scorned any such act
of cowardice.

Before Kaori's internal debate could be decided either way, Ranma-chan
settled the issue. The redhead hadn't fully recovered yet, but anger
gave her the strength she needed. She was merely a blur this time
as she darted forward, circling around Kaori before the other girl
could respond, shoving aside first the thick mass of curls and then
the tightly-woven hair shield beneath, and striking her Instant
Unconsciousness point. And even though she had gone for the win
with an attack that wouldn't really hurt Kaori, Ranma-chan wasn't
quite enough of a gentleman to catch the brunette as she fell.

There was silence along the street for some few moments. Eventually
Ranma-chan let out a long sigh, and did her best to push her aggravation
to the back of her mind. She couldn't just leave Kaori here, lying
unconscious on the road. With a scowl, she bent down and picked
up the larger girl, draping her over one shoulder and heading toward
her original destination: the Daikoku apartment.

Not until she was about to enter the lobby of the building did
something occur to Ranma-chan. Namely, if Kaori was here, there
wasn't going to be anyone there to let them into her place. Her
father wouldn't be getting back for another two hours at least.
With a frown, Ranma-chan backed away from the building, wondering
what to do. Somehow, the thought of searching Kaori's person for
a key struck her as none too smart. Come to think of it, walking
into the lobby with an unconscious girl slung over her shoulder
like a sack of flour probably wasn't such a good idea either.

She glanced up in the direction of Kaori's apartment, and was rewarded
with the solution to her dilemma. Kaori's apartment was on the seventh
floor, quite a distance from Ranma-chan's position on the street,
but the Saotome heir could still make out the fact that the balcony
door was ajar. A few quick hops sent her from street to balcony
to balcony to balcony, and then she was sliding the door open and
walking through, Kaori still snugly in place on one shoulder.

She set the brunette down on a couch and made her way to the bathroom.
One application of hot water followed, and Ranma walked back to
the room where he'd left Kaori. He sat down in a chair on the other
side of the room, and eyed the sleeping girl morosely.

"So which's the real you, huh?" he muttered, voice still
raspy from the aborted choking attack. "The girl who's been
nice to me so far, or the one who tried to kick my butt today?"
A hard question, and not one he really felt up to confronting her
about just now. Still, it would probably be better to get it over
with. Better to wait here until she woke up, and let a glass of
cold water show her just who the 'redheaded witch' had been. Better
to get all this out in the open. Better to—

"Screw it," Ranma said abruptly, as his gaze fell on
the deep bruises her chopstick attack had left on his hands. "I'm
not dealing with this now."

During the entire next day Ranma deliberately did NOT think about
the confrontation with Kaori. He did his best to avoid her, too,
slipping into class just before the late bell rang, making himself
scarce during lunch, and leaving Furinkan as soon as the last class
had ended. He wouldn't have minded so much if Kaori just sought
him out and apologized for apparently skipping out on their session
yesterday (after all, she must be thinking he'd showed up at her
place only to find the door locked and nobody home).But with his
luck, he would have probably been hit by a random spray of water
before she even finished getting the words out.

He knew they'd have to have the conversation some time, but wanted
it to be after he'd gotten past this business of his semi-forced
date with Shampoo. A date that Ranma would never have admitted looking
forward to, although by now he halfway was. Not the 'date' part
as such—he intended to do his darnedest to keep this on the level
of a couple of friends just hanging out together—but seeing Jackie's
newest film, on the day it came out, without having to pay for it,
was a bit of fortune much nicer than the wind usually blew his way.
Ranma just hoped it wouldn't all blow up in his face.

So far, his luck was holding. The date had proceeded amazingly
well.

They met in a park, only an hour after school let out. True to
Shampoo's word, Cologne had been able to acquire a pair of tickets
even on such short notice, but they had been for an afternoon showing
rather than one later in the evening. Ranma hadn't minded at all
when he heard the news, though. He figured this ought to seem much
less suspicious than if he'd waited until after dinner to leave
the Tendo place. Anything that lessened his chances of getting caught
sounded like a good idea to him. Which had been the reason for asking
Shampoo to meet him in neutral ground, rather than going to the
Cat Café to pick her up.

A glimpse of lavender caught his eye as he entered the park. A
few steps farther in confirmed it—Shampoo was already there waiting
for him, even though he himself had arrived a couple of minutes
early. This wasn't really a surprise, though… Shampoo, late for
a date with him? Yeah, right.

She was seated at a bench, facing away from him and looking out
over a small pond. "Hey, Shampoo, over here," he called.
His brow crinkled in mild puzzlement as she didn't turn or otherwise
acknowledge the greeting. 'She had to have heard that. Why the
silent treatment? Is she mad at me or something? Oh, man, was I
wrong about the time?' Ranma thought with an edge of rising
unease. 'Did I get here too late?'

Just as he was feeling the first stirring of anxiety at the thought
that he might have already missed out on the movie, Shampoo spoke.
"Nihao, Ranma."

The boy in question jumped like a cat on a hot tin roof. Shampoo
hadn't spoken coldly at all; the words had come in her usual cheery
tone, laced with a hint of mischief. However, they had also originated
roughly six inches behind his right ear. Sure enough, Ranma whirled
around to find the Amazon standing there, grinning widely at him.

Shampoo was wearing a dress he hadn't seen before, not surprising
considering she had purchased it this morning just for their date.
She'd put on light makeup, including her favorite shade of lipstick,
one which matched her eyes perfectly. Her freshly-washed hair shone
with vitality. A momentary cross-breeze carried a pleasing mixture
of aromas from her to Ranma, containing a hint of perfume within
a clean herbal scent. All in all, Shampoo was dressed to kill, and
the sight shook Ranma even farther off balance than had the 'sneaking
up on him from behind when he thought she was in front of him' part.
"H-huh?"

"Is surprising, no?" Shampoo gestured toward the figure
on the bench. "I know some Japanese like to dye hair, but seeing
one with my exact shade is too, too strange. Bet she not look like
Shampoo from front, though." The Amazon rolled her shoulders
backward slightly, her posture emphasizing her chest even more than
Nature had seen fit to do.

A wasted effort, unfortunately, as Ranma had already turned and
begun regarding the seated girl suspiciously. "I dunno, that
hair looks real to me. You sure it's not actually another Amazon
like Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, dropping by to punish me?"

Shampoo blinked. "When Ranma get so paranoid?"

"With my life? It's a survival trait. Would you mind going
up and talking to her, Shampoo? Or just getting a good look at her
face? Make sure she's not anybody you know."

The Amazon heaved a theatrical sigh. "<The things we do
for love.>" She walked several paces forward and to the
side, until she could make out the other girl's reflection in the
water. The sight of the multiple piercings brought a grimace—what
kind of person thought that was attractive?—but also confirmed
Shampoo's original guess. Just some random Japanese. "Is okay,
Ran… huh?"

A gust of wind blew leaves across the ground in front of her. She
stared, then turned left, then right. There was no sign of Ranma.

Shampoo quickly checked her purse. Nope, the tickets were still
there… at least this wasn't going to be a repeat of their first
date.

"Gotcha back, Shampoo." HIS words had come from no more
than FOUR inches behind her.

She jumped, even as Ranma had. "<How the…> Mean, how
you do that, Ranma?! There no cover in any direction!"

"Simple. Well, simple for me,
anyway." Ranma actually only SAID the first word, but the remainder
of the idea was conveyed quite clearly by his grin. "I just
got behind you, and stayed behind you when you turned. Just had
to be quick an' quiet enough that you didn't catch on."

"Humph! Silly Ranma." Shampoo turned her nose up in the
air in the pose known as Miffed Female #3. "Should know better
than that." Then she broke the pose and giggled. "Should
know by now you not have to try and impress Shampoo any more. Already
know how good you are."

"Come on, Airen," she said, breaking through his half-coherent
protests. "We no want be late for movie."

They'd made it to their destination with plenty of time to spare,
Ranma leading the way over the rooftops at high speed. As he had
hoped, this path kept him (and perhaps more importantly, her) free
from random splashings. Arriving as early as they did had another
bonus, as well… namely, not having to wait in a long line to get
into the theatre.

"So, uh, how long did it take you to learn the Amaguriken,
Shampoo?" Of course, even bonuses have their downsides, as
Ranma had realized not long afterward. Such as, here and now he
was sitting in a dark movie theatre with Shampoo. A dark movie theatre
with absolutely nobody else in it yet, since the two martial artists
had snuck in before personnel actually opened the doors to let people
begin finding seats. The situation was reminding Ranma a little
too much of a time during that fiasco with the Super Soba noodles,
when he and Shampoo had been trapped together in unexpected privacy.
Given the opportunity, it hadn't taken her long at ALL to shift
into full-blown amorous mode, and Ranma had no desire now for a
repeat performance. Hence his best attempt at neutral diverting
small talk.

"Almost two week, Airen. Not do so quickly as you, but what
can Shampoo say?" The Amazon shrugged. "I not built for
speed like you."

"An' I bet the old ghoul didn't push you so hard, either,"
Ranma grumbled.

"Silly Ranma." Shampoo rolled her eyes at him, forgetting
for a moment the dimness of the room. "She not have to. When
she train you, do all those things to make you eager to learn. Not
need to do that with own great-granddaughter."

"Yeah, maybe. But don't try and tell me she didn't get a kick
out of puttin' me through the wringer like that."

"Oh, no, Shampoo would not say that," the Amazon agreed.
"Have not forget how much fun Great-Grandmother had that time."

Ranma snorted, but let the comment pass. Silence fell, persisting
for about a minute before Shampoo broke it again. "Ranma?"

The pigtailed boy in question tensed. THIS didn't sound too promising.
What was she about ask? "Uh… what?"

"When you going to learn new technique?"

He blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected nature of the question.
"Huh?"

"Has been while since you learn last special move, no? Ranma
not really okay to just sit back and relax, I hope." A teasing
note snuck back into Shampoo's voice. "Because Shampoo not
do that, and if Ranma do, someday I kick your butt. Maybe MAKE you
start learn again for real."

Ranma snorted, the sound a mixture of mild irritation at the thought
that he might slack off like that and relief that she hadn't been
leading up to something romantic. "For your information, Shampoo,
only a couple of weeks ago I managed to train myself up to using
the speed of the Amaguriken in a kick."

There was an odd gulping sound from the Amazon, followed by "Hmmm…"Ranma
thought he heard a strange note in her tone; a more adept listener
might have identified it as 'way too innocent to actually be innocent.'
"That is all?"

"Whaddaya mean, 'that is all'?!" Ranma retorted. "You
just got through learning the basics, and I took it to a whole new
level!"

"Or could say, Shampoo just get through learn something new.
All Ranma do is polish what he already know."

Shampoo reached over and patted his arm in a gesture that was meant
to be soothing. "No be that way, Ranma. Shampoo mostly kidding.
Nearly hurt own throat swallowing an 'AIYAH!' when you first say.
I am proud to hear you do that all by own self."

"Then what was all that about, huh?" Ranma said, his
feathers still a little ruffled but largely settling down now.

"Like Shampoo say, mostly kidding. But difference between
just kidding and mostly kidding could be important, Airen."
Shampoo turned in her seat and gave him a serious look, leaning
forward enough that the dimness of the theatre didn't obscure her
face. "Is something you should keep in mind. Sooner or later,
if Great-Grandmother not think you living up to potential, she maybe
take it on self to teach you something new. Like how she did with
Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken."

"Erk." Ranma chewed that thought for a few moments, finding
it none too palatable. Cologne's training was effective, and none
of it had been as bad as Genma's worst excess, but it was a far
cry from enjoyable. How serious was Shampoo about this possibility?
"Did she maybe tell you to say that to me?"

"No," Shampoo admitted. "I just guessing. But she
HAVE say some things to Shampoo while we training with Chestnut
Fist, when say she glad I eager to learn." Shampoo hesitated,
then continued, "She tell me she disappointed in you some,
Airen, because she have show you many secret techniques that you
never ask her how to learn."

Ranma didn't quite know how to respond to this. After a few moments
of silence from him, Shampoo spoke again. "No worry, I be sure
to tell her you teach self Amaguriken-fast speed kick. That probably
make her happier. But is still something to think about."

'Yeah, great, as if I didn't already have enough on my mind,'
Ranma thought with a mental sigh. "Thanks for the warning,
Shampoo."

"You not know?" She sighed. "Here is hint. Is about
right and proper way for man to treat woman on date."

He gulped, berating himself for letting his guard down. "Ah…
I d-don't know what you mean?!"

"Is simple." Shampoo leaned forward again, getting right
into his personal space. She gave him a mock glare. "I pay
for tickets to movie, so Ranma should pay for snacks. Is only fair."

Sneaking back into the room while carrying a double armload of
snacks without being caught by an usher had been a bit of a challenge,
but Ranma pulled it off without a hitch. Shortly thereafter, the
doors opened and all the rest of the moviegoers streamed in. Ranma
and Shampoo received a few dirty looks from the first people in
line, but considering the kind of hostility the Saotome heir often
encountered, it should probably come as no surprise that he didn't
even notice.

The movie was as enjoyable as Ranma had hoped. He and Shampoo alternately
laughed and winced their way through it. However, all good things
must come to an end, and late afternoon saw the two of them entering
the park where they'd met earlier, preparing to say goodbye.

"Thank you, Airen. I had very good time."

They were back in the area where they'd met two hours ago. For
the moment, Shampoo wasn't looking toward Ranma, instead gazing
out over the pond and admiring the play of the late afternoon sunlight
over its waters. It was a beautiful sight, and she would have liked
nothing more than to lead her Airen over to the unoccupied bench,
curl up with him there, and enjoy the sight until the sun set.

She enjoyed the fantasy for a brief moment, before thoughts of
Cologne's likely reaction to being abandoned during the dinner rush
brought her back to earth.

"So did I." Although he was beginning to feel a little
tense. So far this outing had gone much more smoothly than was usual,
and had been a lot more fun than he was used to. And it was nearly
over now… if things were going to blow up in his face after all,
it pretty much had to happen in the next few minutes. After
all, the date was about to officially end.

At which point Ranma remembered what Shampoo's idea was of the
proper way to end a date, causing his level of tension to undergo
a quick growth spurt. "S-so, yeah, I'm glad you had a good
time too, Shampoo. It's getting kinda late now, though, and I bet
you don't wanna keep your great-granny waiting or nothing."

"No, I not want to do that," the Amazon agreed. "See
you later, Ran—Aiyah!! What that?!"

She was staring over his shoulder, eyes wide in shock. Ranma spun
around, looking for whatever had caused such a reaction. He couldn't
see anything out of the ordinary. "What was that about, Shampoo?"
he asked, turning back to face her. "I didn't—MMPH!"

Had Cologne been watching, she would doubtless have let out an
appreciative cackle at her great-granddaughter's tactic. Ranma was
caught completely off-guard, his arms pinned at his sides by Shampoo's
embrace, and his lips locked with hers, before he could realize
where the true threat had been. The Amazon held the kiss for an
impressive length of time, pleased at the way his pigtail flared
straight up and his knees buckled.

She released him at last, smirking at the shell-shocked expression
on his face. "Now THAT is right way to end date. Remember for
next time, okay, Airen?" And with that, she turned, and sashayed
away.

Ranma was given less time to recover than he might have liked.

Less than a minute after Shampoo had finally moved out of sight,
another figure appeared, stalking out from a patch of trees. The
glares Ranma had received at the theatre might not have registered,
but the hostility radiating from this individual was enough to snap
him right out of his daze.

"Hey there, Mousse," he said in a tired voice, as the
Chinese boy stopped about twenty paces away. "Any particular
reason you waited til now, instead of trying to bust up the actual
date?"

"As if you didn't know," Mousse hissed. "That was
a dirty trick, Saotome, telling the old mummy you would be MEETING
Shampoo here now, when this was really when you were going to say
goodbye!"

"Translation: the ghoul lied to you about the time frame.
Check." He shook his head. "Would've been nice if she'd
said it was fifteen minutes later than this. You'd prob'ly have
been happier too."

"Shut up, you bastard." Mousse's voice trembled with
rage. "How dare you do that with my Shampoo?!"

"Yep, nothing new here," Ranma muttered to himself. Louder,
he said, "So that was my fault. Right. Did ya even HAVE your
glasses on when you saw her kiss me?"

"DIE, SAOTOME!!" Mousse followed the words with his typical
opening move, launching a volley of chains with various unpleasant
things on the ends.

Ranma skipped to one side, sighing as he did. Same old, same old.
Truth be told, his patience was beginning to wear very thin indeed
where this particular nuisance was concerned. "Y'know something,
Duck-boy, I'm getting pretty darn tired of this junk." A spiked
ball whizzed past his head. "You've been giving me grief since
day one." He leaped over another chain as Mousse tried attacking
low. "Actin' like I'm trying to stab you in the back so I can
take Shampoo for myself."

Ranma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ya think YOU are? Think
you can just beat me up and drag my unconscious body to Shampoo,
and she'll fall right into your arms?" He laughed scornfully.
"I got news for you, buddy. She wouldn't look twice at you
even if I WASN'T in the picture! You want a chance at Shampoo, you
need to work on making yourself into some kinda halfway-decent guy
with at least a little bit of honor! An' I sure as heck wish you
would!!"

The throwing daggers he'd just selected dropped from Mousse's nerveless
fingers. "You… you dare to say that to me?! YOU?!"

It was quite a bit different from the way he'd originally
regarded Mousse. Ranma had been sympathetic when he first learned
the other boy's story. There had been quite a long stretch of time
when he would have been willing to help Mousse win Shampoo (although
there were sharply defined limits to the lengths to which he'd been
prepared to go). But slowly, as the Chinese boy had acted dishonorably
again and again and again, those feelings had curdled. By now, Ranma
held little emotion other than contempt for Shampoo's self-proclaimed
true love.

And so to answer Mousse's incredulous question, the pigtailed martial
artist snorted. "Yeah, me. The same guy who started out feelin'
sorry for you. The same guy who was a lot nicer to you than you
deserve."

"The same guy who wouldn't know honor if it stuck a sword
through him!!" Mousse interjected.

"You only wish," Ranma snapped back. "Let's see,
who was it who kidnapped Akane to try an' get to me? Who threw Yazuniichuan
water around tryin' to hit me, without even caring what kinda innocent
people might've ended up cursed? Who doesn't have any problem with
getting someone else and ganging up on me? First it was with Ryoga,
and don't think I don't know it was your idea, and then with the
loony-tune Kunos while I had that stupid weakness moxibustion! And
who told Shampoo he was going back to China and leaving her alone,
and then just snuck around causin' me trouble until he couldn't
stay away from her anymore?

"Oh, and let's not forget who it was that was so dead set
against admitting Shampoo loved me instead of him that he almost
let her get cursed to be a… to get stuck in her cursed form for
good? Who couldn't let the girl he SAID he loved kiss the guy SHE
said SHE loved, even to save her neck? Any of this ring any bells
with you, Mousse?!"

"I don't have to take this from you." By now Mousse's
entire body was trembling, rather than just his voice. He was beyond
shouting for the moment, fury causing his words to emerge half-choked.
"Just… just…" the dam broke, "…just DIE!!"

And with that Mousse gave it his all, flinging weapon after weapon,
producing dozens of times his own body weight in concealed instruments
of mayhem and hurling them toward his nemesis.

The sheer volume actually posed something of a challenge. Ranma
had to devote quite a bit of attention to his safety as he dodged
and blocked his way through the onslaught. Approaching Mousse for
the knockout was out of the question; with the attacks coming this
fast and furious, it was all he could do to hold his ground. There
just wasn't room to maneuver forward.

And so he maintained his position, blurring as he struck and kicked
the various weapons away from him, knocking Mousse's attempts back
on themselves and disrupting subsequent ones. Chains tangled, various
edged and blunt objects piled up, and it became ever more obvious
that Mousse's efforts, though determined, were as futile as usual.

The Chinese boy eventually ran out of weaponry and energy. He stood
there, gasping and panting, still trembling with rage but unable
to act on it just now. Ranma just shook his head in disgust, and
snaked one foot underneath a discarded chain. He lifted it to his
hand, and began spinning the large, blunt weight on the end. "Ain't
you EVER going to learn, Mousse?" The boy in question tried
to dodge as Ranma launched the chain, but weariness made him stumble.
And then his own weapon encircled him, binding him and clipping
his wings.

Ranma looked away, not because he was bothered by the ferocity
of the glare his recent foe was sending his way, but rather trying
to find a tree from which to string Mousse up. The moron didn't
have any choice now except to stay put and listen to what he had
to say, Ranma thought determinedly, and this time he was going to
get through to him even if he had to beat the ideas into Mousse's
skull. At least, that was his intention, though it must be admitted
he was operating out of optimism rather than realism.

And it proved to be a moot point anyway. Without Mousse's squawking
to distract him, Ranma suddenly realized that there was quite a
commotion proceeding from another area of the park. He listened
for a few moments, fighting a feeling of mounting dread, and then
hurried toward the new disturbance.

The path of a martial artist is fraught with peril. It was a saying
that had been shown, time and time again, to contain much truth.
And while Ranma was the one who most often felt this truth bite
him in the backside, he was far from the only one. Akane was no
stranger to random kidnappings. Ryoga lived his life one splash
of water plus a few moments of bad luck away from becoming a tasty
meal. Ukyo had nearly lost her restaurant twice over. Figures from
his disreputable past occasionally surfaced to cause Genma plenty
of anxiety.

Shampoo was no exception to this rule, either. From defeating the
deadly minstrel Mon Lon, to the encounters with the Ghost Cat, all
the way back to her very first defeat by Ranma-chan, the Amazon
had had her share of dangers and confrontations. She knew and accepted
that this was an inescapable part of the life she lived.

That didn't mean she enjoyed getting challenged by one of the girls
chasing the man she loved right after she'd ended a date with him,
though.

Shampoo didn't recognize her at first. She'd only seen this member
of the competition once, which had been a week ago and from a distance.
That and the fact that she was currently more interested in reliving
a bit of the recent past rather than focusing on anything going
on in the present meant Shampoo didn't really pay any attention
to the approaching brunette. Not until Kaori stopped a few feet
in front of the Amazon, glaring frostily all the while, did Shampoo
come out of her daze. Her smile began to fade as she put an identity
to the face before her.

"I'd like to know what you thought you were doing with my
fiancé," Kaori said, cutting straight to the chase.

"Hot damn," muttered Kentaro Shimoji, roving ace reporter
for a local TV news station. "Good things do come to those
who wait. Point that camera over there, Toshi, and start filming!"

Toshi Otohime, his newly assigned cameraman, gave his colleague
a blank look. "What? A couple of teenage girls that're about
to get into a catfight? Sure, they're hot babes, but newsworthy…?"
The blank look morphed into a smirk. "You wouldn't be wanting
this tape just for your personal archive or something, would you?"

"You wouldn't be asking me that if you'd been around here
for long, kid," Kentaro replied with a grin. "Time to
learn about the stuff they didn't teach you in college. Just roll
the film already, and for heaven's sake don't drop the camera when
the special effects start flying!"

Shampoo turned her nose up. "What matter, take-out girl? You
could not see clearly? If that is case, Shampoo know better man
for you, one you have lot in common with. Would be glad introduce
you to him."

"No. You do not," Shampoo said, her voice adamant and
shifting toward threatening. "Can dream all you want, but it
not change what is truth. It was Shampoo who Ranma take on date
today, was Shampoo he say he have good time with. You think promise
made by Genma should make Ranma go to you? Think so highly of stupid
panda man? Then Shampoo suggest you date with him. Or anybody else
you want. But leave my Airen alone!"

"I guess you'd like it if I did," Kaori growled. "If
I just curled up into a little ball and didn't give you any more
trouble. Well, sorry, China girl, I don't think so!" She drew
herself into a ready stance, wishing there had been time to get
a bowl of ramen before this confrontation.

Shampoo whipped out her bonbori. "Is fine with me. Shampoo
even like it better this way. Get a nice little relaxing workout!"
She smiled, enjoying the way the other girl's confidence took a
sudden dip at the sight of the weapons. Just like that other wannabe
warrior girl. "You try not make this too, too easy, okay, take-out
girl?"

Kaori's arm whipped in an arc, loosing the chopstick she had palmed,
while she blessed the fact that her foe's short dress left her legs
bare. The missile darted through the air, grazing Shampoo's right
leg in one precise spot. The Amazon's eyes widened as her limb buckled
beneath her, tremors of pain suddenly flaring up from the very tips
of her toes.

The brunette smirked, recovering her equanimity at the success
of the attack. "Sorry, I'm afraid it does look like it's going
to be pretty easy. Better luck next ti—YAHH!" She skipped to
the side, barely dodging Shampoo's thrown bonbori. The club struck
a tree behind Kaori's hastily vacated location, bouncing back to
the Amazon's hand.

Kentaro glanced at the tree, considering the gouge in the bark
and noting that the trunk hadn't been cracked through. "Yeah,
she held back a lot. Probably didn't think Ranma would be too happy
if she turned someone into a red smear."

Shampoo was back on her feet now, gritting her teeth and ignoring
the pain in her leg. She began stalking forward. Kaori launched
another chopstick at Shampoo's other leg, but the Amazon lowered
a bonbori and blocked it without slackening pace. Kaori backpedaled,
realizing that if she tried to turn and run she'd never be able
to dodge the inevitable thrown weapon.

Plus there was the fact that she really, really wanted a
victory, to make this girl pay for her effrontery with Kaori's fiancé,
and to take away the sting of her earlier defeat at the hands of
that wretched mystery redhead. Kaori's face hardened. At least one
good thing had come of that previous battle, the brunette reflected…
she was now carrying PLENTY of material for ranged attacks.

"Too stubborn for your own good," she taunted Shampoo,
continuing to back away as the Amazon moved forward, trying a quick
one-two chopstick strike. Both were knocked aside effortlessly.
"I know how much that leg has to be hurting you."

"Try smacking own self into boulders for many days straight,"
the other girl growled back. Ever so slowly, she was closing the
distance between them. "This pain is nothing. At least, is
nothing to what you is going to be feeling soon!" Very soon
indeed, if her enemy failed to realize Shampoo was herding her into
a patch of low, tangled brush. No way could she back through that
without falling down.

"I don't think so." Kaori brought her arms up into a
crossed position. "Since you don't know when to quit, I guess
I'll put you out of your misery! Daikoku school final attack: A
Thousand Satisfied Customers!!" Her arms swung down and swept
into windmilling motion, as Kaori launched a furious fusillade of
chopsticks at Shampoo.

"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!" Shampoo's bonbori dropped
from visibility as she swung them at maximum speed, shielding herself
from the chopstick barrage. With some effort, she managed to replace
the technique's usual grimace of concentration with a mocking smile.

Kaori blanched, cutting the attack short before she exhausted all
her ammunition. "That's pretty impressive." Her expression
hardened again. "But it's not going to be good enough!"
'I hope.' She reached
into a pocket, pulling out something new.

Shampoo blinked. "A fortune cookie? What kind of Japanese
use silly fake food what really come from America?"

"You're almost right. But I'm afraid it's actually a MISfortune
cookie!" Kaori hurled it straight at the Amazon.

Rather than block this one, Shampoo dodged awkwardly. Her opponent
had to have known she was capable of knocking the thing aside. She
might not like Kaori, but she also didn't think the girl was stupid
enough to launch a completely worthless attack. Shampoo's hunch
was proved right as the misfortune cookie struck the ground some
little distance behind her, exploding with quite a bit of force.

"Nice try, but can you keep it up?!" Kaori launched another
cookie, then began flinging more chopsticks. Shampoo dodged again,
with some difficulty, and barely managed to shift into blocking
mode in time to deflect the non-explosive projectiles. But Kaori
was now firmly controlling the tempo of battle, and when she sent
two cookies sailing along in the chopstick stream, there was nothing
Shampoo could do but grasp her bonbori as tightly as she could,
and hope.

The dual explosions knocked her right off her feet. She maintained
her grip on her weapons, but couldn't shrug off the force transmitted
through them. Her hands were still clenched tightly around the hafts
of the maces, but she couldn't even feel them. Her arms were in
slightly better shape; she could still move them, although it felt
like she was pushing through wet concrete to do so.

Kaori smirked, adding insult to injury, and launched one more precision
chopstick strike, nailing the Amazon's remaining good limb. Shampoo
hissed in pain as her left leg joined the right in near-rebellion.

"See you later," the Martial Arts Takeout girl said cheerfully.
"But when I do, I'd better not see you with Ranma. Is that
underst… oh, come on, this is ridiculous." Shampoo had just
struggled back to her feet. Despite the pain on her face and her
generally battered condition, she was now sporting a fierce battle
aura. "I'm still carrying enough ammunition to finish you,
China girl."

"Good," Shampoo said, menace thick in her words. Her
aura twisted, flowing down her arms. "Hope you have many of
those cowardly cookie weapons left." Her bonbori were now glowing
brightly. Too late, Kaori scrambled for more weapons. "Hope
they all go off at once! HYAHHH!!" And with that, through the
protests in her arms, ignoring the numbness in her hands, she brought
her battered maces slamming together, releasing a massive wave of
energy straight toward Kaori.

It was a really, really bad time for Ranma to rush between
them in an attempt to stop the fight.

He just had time to realize what he'd done, but not to brace himself.
The chi blaze slammed into him, bowling him over and sending him
plowing into the dirt. His body dug a noticeable trench before coming
to rest, twitching spasmodically with wisps of smoke rising from
him."…ouch…"

"Airen!" Her bonbori fell from nerveless fingers. Ignoring
the pain in her legs, Shampoo hurried toward him as best she could,
remorse hurting her worse than her injuries. Nailing the man she
loved with a potentially lethal attack did NOT strike her as a good
follow-up on their date. "Is you okay?!"

"Don't you think you've done enough?! Get away from him!"
Kaori snapped, coming up along Ranma's other side. Only the loss
of Shampoo's weapons gave her the nerve to do so. "Ranma, how
do you feel? Is it safe to move you?! Don't worry, I'll get you
to a doctor!"

"Take own self!!" Shampoo snarled, rage giving her the
focus she needed to slam a knife hand blow into the center of the
other girl's breastbone. Kaori was knocked backward, falling to
the ground with a muffled cry of pain.

"That's… enough…" Ranma gritted, forcing his way
back to his knees. "Cut it out… both of you." He made
it the rest of the way back to his feet.

"Okay, Airen. Come on now," Shampoo said worriedly. "We
go back to Cat Café, get Great-Grandmother to look at you."

"Forget it," he said with a sigh. "It ain't that
bad." When Shampoo began to protest again, he cut her off.
"Right now I just want to get out of here without any more
grief." He gave Shampoo a hard look, then shifted it to Kaori.
"That means both of you head on home peacefully too."
Ranma turned, and began to walk away.

"R-Ranma. No go like this," Shampoo said, her voice trembling.
"Please no turn away now. This not Shampoo's fault!!"

He stopped, and gave a deep sigh. Without turning around he responded,
"I don't remember sayin' it was. It's just another one of those
things that happens all the time around here."

Once he was reasonably sure Shampoo wasn't following him and wouldn't
see it happen, Ranma collapsed onto a bench. He wasn't as wasted
as he'd been after his first encounter with Ryoga's Shi Shi Houkodan,
but he wasn't far from it either. Walking away from Shampoo and
Kaori without staggering had just about been the limit of what he
was capable of right now. If any of his rivals turned up in the
next little while, he wouldn't even be able to use the Saotome Secret
Technique to end the fight.

It was an unwelcome truth, one which Ranma tried to push out of
his mind. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on recovering.
Immediately, however, an equally unpleasant thought bobbled up…
namely, if he went back to the Tendo home now, his battered condition
would raise some awkward questions. Somehow, he just couldn't see
anything good coming from an explanation that he'd gotten caught
in the crossfire of a brawl between Shampoo and Kaori.

Obviously, then, the thing to do was wait on this nice, comfortable
bench until he felt better, and in the meantime try to think up
a cover story for when he got back home. Judging from past experience,
with chi blasts in particular and getting the crud beaten out of
him in general, Ranma estimated that in a couple of hours he'd be
feeling like someone had wrapped his body in wet towels and then
wrung them dry. A BIG step up from his current condition. Heck,
even Tsubasa Kurenai might be more than he could handle just now.

With a mental scowl, Ranma pushed that thought away again. It shouldn't
be a problem, he reminded himself. The time was getting on toward
early evening, which meant dinner, which meant that most of the
usual nutcases would be busy elsewhere. Ryoga might suddenly pop
up, but the lost boy had enough honor not to attack someone this
battered. He'd seen that during the business with the Weakness Moxibustion,
when Ryoga had defended him from Kuno and Mousse…

Mousse…

Ranma's eyes widened as the nagging whisper from his subconscious
mind finally broke through to a cluster of mainstream neurons. Mousse…
whom he had left chained up in a nearby park. Mousse, who was probably
not far now from working his way free. Mousse, who might or might
not head straight back to the Cat Café after his ignominious
defeat. Mousse, who might be tired, but who would still be more
than Ranma could handle in his present state.

With a not-very-suppressed groan, the Saotome heir forced his way
back to his feet, and began walking down the lane, heading for home.
Not until he'd covered four block's distance did he remember that
he hadn't wanted to go back there just yet.

"This sucks," he muttered. "Shampoo, why'd ya have
to use such a stupid overkill technique anyway?" He shook his
head disgustedly. "Where'm I supposed to go now?" And
then he stopped, head turned to one side, blinking as he realized
just where he was, and what he was looking at.

He stood there for a long moment, then deliberately turned and
walked through the door into Ucchan's Okonomiyaki.

It hadn't changed in the past three weeks, Ranma noted. There were
a fair number of customers present, no surprise considering the
time of day. It felt nice, somehow, to see that Ucchan was still
doing good business. She was standing behind the grill, and hadn't
seen him so far, as she was busy preparing three okonomiyaki at
once.

The early dinner rush hadn't really started yet, so there were
a few empty seats available. Ranma hesitated, then walked over and
claimed the one right in front of the grill.

Ukyo flipped the okonomiyaki onto plates, then looked up with a
smile. "Welcome to Uc… chan's…"The smile drained away,
leaving her wearing a strange expression that Ranma didn't really
know how to qualify. As if moving on its own, her arm passed the
finished okonomiyaki down the counter. She took a deep breath. "Ranma."

"Yeah, Ucchan, it's me." Ranma blinked. As if by magic,
a throwing spatula had appeared in the chef's hand. "Ah, wait
a minute…"

Ukyo ignored him, launching the missile. It winged through the
air and struck the sign on her door, causing it to switch from 'open'
to 'closed'.

"Nice shot," Ranma said, breathing a little easier.

The chef ignored the compliment, turning to look at him with a
hopeful intensity that made him less comfortable than when he thought
she'd pulled a weapon on him. "Ranma. Is… is there something
you wanted to tell me?"

"There is," Ranma confirmed, not meeting her gaze. "Like
you can see, I'm not in good shape right now. I kinda… need a
place to stay for the next couple of hours, to recover. And some
okonomiyaki would be really nice too." He gulped. "I've
missed those."

Without a word, Ukyo turned back to the grill, preparing a jumbo
house special. She passed it to Ranma, who took the offering with
a mental sigh of relief. She wasn't going to throw him out, then.
It had taken longer than he'd expected, but she apparently wasn't
going to stick to that ultimatum she'd laid down in front of him
last time he was here.

"Ranma?" Ukyo said as he finished the last bite of his
okonomiyaki. "Do you remember what I said last time you were
here?"

Ranma sweated. "Y-yeah?"

"I'm not blind or stupid enough not to see that… that's
not why you're here," Ukyo said quietly. "You've got a
lot of nerve coming back now. Doing… just doing the same thing
you always do. Coming by here for a meal, and a nice place to visit."

"Seven hundred yen. That's the price of a house special, Ranma.
Just be glad I'm not charging you for all the others you've mooched
off me before."

Ranma closed his eyes, feeling first betrayal, and then anger.
In one second all the memories came rushing back, memories of how
he'd felt these past few weeks, how it had hurt when she ignored
him. That was NOT the way a friend should act, a part of him had
railed in the back of his mind.

And it spoke aloud now, as he opened his eyes. "Ucchan, is
that any way… for…"

The sight before him derailed his train of thought. He couldn't
meet Ukyo's eyes, because her head was completely downcast, leaving
her staring directly at the floor. Not that he expected she could
see it clearly, as tears were falling, dropping one after the other
with little interval between. Her shoulders were trembling, but
somehow her outstretched hand held rock steady.

His righteous indignation vanished in a heartbeat. A heartbeat
that felt as if it had come from the pit of his stomach rather than
his chest. "Ucchan… I…" Abandoning words, he pulled
his wallet out of his pocket, and fumbled through it, removing the
requested sum and dropping it in her palm. "I'm sorry."
Even he knew it was inadequate, but it was all Ranma could manage.
He got up from his seat.

"N-no, Ranma. Sit down. Stay here. Take… take those couple
of hours you wanted. Get your strength back here, where it's always
been safe. And then go on back to the Tendo place."

"Um… that… I don't…" Ranma didn't know what he
was trying to say, but his reluctance came through clearly enough.
He glanced around as if searching for inspiration; it came as a
distant shock to realize that once again all the customers had melted
away.

Head still downcast, Ukyo turned and walked toward the stairs that
led to her living quarters. "I mean it, Ranma. Stay."
Her voice came tightly controlled. "If you ever thought of
me as any kind of friend, stay here and recover. Just… just don't
come upstairs…" She paused on the stairway. The control slipped,
nearly fracturing. "And you might…" she drew a shuddering
breath, "m-might want to wipe off Shampoo's GODDAMN
LIPSTICK!!"

'Saotome, you idiot, you owe me big time for this.'

It was with an increasing effort of will that Nabiki maintained
her nonchalant pose on the couch, flipping through a manga in a
posture that spoke of bored unconcern. Ranma wasn't back yet. Ranma
should have been back an hour ago. And if Ranma didn't get his sorry
carcass back here soon, Nabiki wasn't sure she could keep her end
of their bargain. Akane was already restless, sneaking glances at
a clock every five minutes. Nabiki had told her that she had sent
Ranma off to run some errands for her, which had neatly explained
his early afternoon absence. It was even true, as far as it went,
though Nabiki hadn't felt it judicious to add that said errands
would only take about fifteen minutes, tops.

It had been enough to hold her little sister for a while. After
a couple of hours had passed, Akane had oh-so-casually asked whether
the tasks Nabiki had set for Ranma involved renting him out to his
other fiancées. Secretly VERY grateful for the way her sister had
phrased the question, Nabiki had forced her face to register nothing
but amusement. After confirming that the answer was 'no', she'd
had an entertaining ten minutes needling Akane with questions as
to just why she was so concerned.

That had settled little sister down for the last hour, but the
effect was wearing off now. As if to illustrate this point, Akane
spoke up. "It won't be much longer until Kasumi calls us all
in for dinner, Nabiki. Should it really take Ranma this long to
get everything done?"

"Honestly? No, Akane, not unless something unexpected came
up." Nabiki figured that since something unexpected almost
surely HAD come up, she might as well admit that. "But considering
that we're talking about Ranma Saotome, that could just mean he
realized he didn't know how to get to the places I told him to go.
For all we know, he could still be trying to find the first stop
on his itinerary because he's too macho to ask somebody for directions,
and too dense to think about calling me here."

"Humph. So I shouldn't worry about that baka, huh?"

"Oh no, I didn't say that," Nabiki replied with
a smirk. "I'm not worried, at least I won't be unless
he actually misses dinner. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't worry
about him."

"What? Why not?!"

"Because this is just TOO entertaining. I haven't had this
much fun in days," the middle Tendo said dryly. "Watching
you pretend like you don't care about him, even though you're getting
completely bent out of shape just because he's not around."

Akane sniffed, tilting her nose into the air. "You wish!"
She picked up the television remote and switched the set on, pointedly
focusing on it and ignoring her sister.

'That might hold her for another thirty minutes,' Nabiki
estimated. 'IF I'm lucky. Saotome, I should have known
better than to think you might be able to handle your part of this
deal. Couldn't you manage one simple little date without getting…
into…'

It was at this point that the scene on the 'human interest' segment
of the evening news registered with Nabiki. She sat there, stock
still, shifting her attention between the set and Akane. Watching
as Shampoo and Kaori screamed at each other, each claiming Ranma
was rightfully hers. Wincing as Shampoo said her piece about a date,
after Kaori had said HERS about a kiss. Giving a long, deep sigh
of regret as she examined her sister, who sat as if carved from
stone while a battle aura blazed around her. 'Jeez, Saotome,
when you blow it, you really blow it big, don't you?'

Her answer came quickly, as the sound of an opening door was followed
by Ranma's weary call of "I'm home!"

Nabiki winced again, closing her eyes as a sudden breeze blew her
hair around. That had been Akane, exiting the room at a speed Nabiki
never saw her sister attain when she was practicing martial
arts. The middle Tendo kept her eyes closed, shaking her head and
muttering, "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma…" while trying not to
listen too closely to the inevitable confrontation.

She knew Akane had been trying to control her temper better lately,
but right now Nabiki wouldn't give a bent yen coin for Ranma's chances
of emerging unscathed.

"You want to tell me where you were all this time, Ranma?"
That was Akane, her voice coming sharp with pain and hot with anger.

"Got caught in a fight." Ranma, weary, tired, in more
than a bit of his own pain, and not even close to perceptive enough
to see just how deep he was in it right now. "Stayed at Ucchan's
for a little while to recover, and she basically made me feel like
a worse heel than Kuno for going back when I wasn't there to tell
her I'd picked her. So I ain't in a good mood right now, Akane,
and I'd like to get… by…"That would be where he finally
began to notice the battle aura, and the fire in her eyes.

"Nothing else?" Little sister's voice, hard and raspy.
Nabiki wondered whether Ranma would realize, later, that that particular
tone was the sound of choked back tears. "Nothing like, maybe,
you taking Shampoo on a date? Like maybe you KISSING her, Ranma?!"

Shock that had completely destroyed what feeble discretionary verbal
skills he had. "H-how'd you know?!"

"I HATE YOU!!" The scream, and the swish, and
the thunk of wood on flesh, and the crunch of a body embedded into
the floor. At least he hadn't gone crashing through multiple walls,
Nabiki noted. She waited until she heard Akane storm away, then
went out and checked on him. If she was any judge, and the number
of times she'd 'assisted' Tatewaki to the nurse's office had taught
her fairly well, he wouldn't be waking up before morning.

"Sweet dreams, Saotome," she muttered ironically. "Don't
think I'm letting you off the hook on that favor, either. I did
the best anyone could, but I'm not liable for Acts of God."
She shook her head, and went to fetch Kasumi.

When he was much younger, Ranma had passed through an experience
no-one should ever endure. The Cat-Fist training had been a little
piece of hell on earth; misery and pain and terror and betrayal
all rolled up into a ball, garnished with fish products, and sent
careening into a nightmare of darkness, claws, and teeth. Those
episodes had left him scarred, but they had also demonstrated a
basic truth of the human psyche: when stress builds high enough,
the mind will force a way to escape.

Or embrace one, when an offer is made.

Slowly and dimly, he became aware of sensation. Sparkles of light
against velvet blackness. The wind in his hair. Motion, surrounding
him, cocooning and caressing him. The impressions were distant,
vague, seemingly part of an unimportant background rather than anything
worth examining in detail.

Still, the martial artist within him wanted more than that. Needed
an awareness of the environment around him. Lazily, one corner of
his mind attempted to focus, though the dreamlike state made it
difficult; the senses that he had honed so sharply over the course
of his training seemed sleepy, unwilling to concentrate. His mind
felt like it was wrapped in soft cotton, which was comforting and
pleasurable to be sure, but made it difficult to discern just what
was happening.

He was dimly aware of this, but somehow it didn't matter much.
The situation wasn't alarming, just… curious. And that curiosity
led him to stretch out, analyze his surroundings as best he could,
and see. He was… he was…

He was flying through the night sky?

~Shh. Relax, Ranma.~

It couldn't be considered a voice. Certainly it was nothing he
heard with his ears. The words weren't there, and then they were,
softer than the moonlight on the clouds above him, closer than the
air that slipped around his form.

~Don't try so hard. Just enjoy the dream.~

A dream? Of course, Ranma thought muzzily, that explained it. Curiosity
satisfied, he relaxed into the embrace of the wind and the darkness,
feeling a pleasant sensation of release as recent stress drained
away.

~That's better. Let it go, Ranma.~ A pause, then the words
came again, even softer than before. ~I've missed you.~

"Ranma?"

He stirred slightly.

"Ranma, it's time to get up."

The pillow was pulled over his head.

"Breakfast is ready."

Kasumi caught the pillow as it flew past her, catapulted by Ranma's
sudden sit-up. "Huh?" The Saotome heir blinked at her
for a few seconds, before giving a tremendous yawn. "Oh. Thanks,
Kasumi."

The eldest Tendo daughter regarded him with an uncharacteristically
grave look on her face. She knew Ranma was resilient, but this…?
He seemed in much too good a mood, considering how his day had ended
yesterday. "I'm glad you're feeling better this morning,"
she said tentatively.

"Huh? Feeling better?" At which point the blissful grace
period of morning amnesia came to an end. Kasumi winced, already
regretting saying anything, as Ranma's face fell. "Heh. Well,
I was. Had nice dreams at least."

"I'm sorry, Ranma," she offered awkwardly. "Maybe
today will be a better day."

Ranma turned and looked toward the window, and the bright sunlight
that streamed down outside. He closed his eyes, remembering the
calm quiet and the wind in his hair. His lips curved slightly, becoming
at least the ghost of the smile he'd been wearing when she woke
him. "Maybe, Kasumi. I can hope, can't I?"

To be continued.

Afterword: This is the first of three chapters, to be continued
in 'Night of Ghosts and Shadows', and concluded in 'Dawn's Uncertain
Light'. Detailed author's notes will appear at the end.